One of the earliest proponents of a trucker boycott of New York City in retaliation against former President Donald Trump's civil fraud penalty has backed down on his earlier statements, deleting posts and sharing a retraction.
Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday ruled that Trump must pay $355 million in penalties in the civil fraud case brought against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The suit accused Trump and others of fraudulently inflating his net worth and the value of his assets to secure more favorable business loans, which Engoron found him liable for last year. Trump has also been barred from serving as an officer or director for any business in New York state for the next three years. Trump has maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings.
In response to the ruling, a number of pro-Trump social media users began urging truckers to boycott New York City by refusing to accept routes into it and potentially disrupting its economy. Many of the users advocating for the plan were truckers, including one early voice on X, "Chicago Ray," who echoed Trump's claims that the case had been politically motivated election interference.
"I've been on the radio talking to drivers for about the past hour and I've talked to about 10 drivers," the trucker said in a video shared to X over the weekend in which he claimed the boycott would begin on Monday. "I don't know how far across the country this is or how many truckers are going to start denying loads going to New York City, but I'll tell you what — you f*** around and find out."
But Chicago Ray deleted his original post and shared a new one on Monday in which he distanced himself from the boycott calls and stressed that he was not encouraging anyone to do anything. The post was also later deleted, but a screengrab of it was shared in a report by the progressive MeidasTouch.
"Just to be clear.... I'm no figurehead of any movement...." Chicago Ray wrote. "I'm not leading, nor have I encouraged, or am I encouraging anyone to do anything other than what they were doing prior to the ruling on Friday in New York City."
After deleting that post, he shared another in which he claimed to have deleted the original video because it went viral, claiming that his grandson had seen it on TikTok. He also claimed that his decision to delete the post was not because anyone "got to" him, stressing his continued support of Trump and for truckers making their own decisions.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email on Monday morning for comment. Any responses received will be added to this story in an update.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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