Donald Trump beefs up security after El Chapo death threat
Donald Trump is taking the death threats from El Chapo (inset) seriously. Photo: AP; Reuters
As new photos revealed how billionaire cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman made his great escape from prison, Donald Trump beefed up his security detail in response to a threat the fugitive drug lord purportedly tweeted.
“We have officials all over the place, including right outside hanging out in trees,” Trump told reporters Tuesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Albemarle Estate, his new winery and bed and breakfast in Charlottesville, Va.
Trump arrived with extra brawn, including two state troopers who escorted him from his helicopter.
The Donald is on edge after a threatening tweet fired off from an account that apparently belongs to Sinaloa Cartel king El Chapo.
Guzman broke out of a maximum-security prison in Mexico on Saturday, using a red motorbike to travel through a sophisticated, milelong tunnel that began under his cell’s shower before emerging at a remote construction site, new photos show.
“Keep f–king around and I’m gonna make you swallow your whore words you f–king whitey milks–tter,” the user @ElChap0Gusman taunted Trump in the menacing message, which reached hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers.
“I’m better than them,” El Chapo later tweeted about Trump and his entourage.
The account’s authenticity has yet to be verified, but Trump took the threat seriously, alerting FBI agents.
“Law enforcement is working very hard right now on the situation here,” he said at the winery.
When asked if he’d heard back from federal agents, he simply said, “I am not supposed to be talking about it.”
But he wasn’t afraid to blast Mexican authorities for how they’ve handled the prison bust, charging, “They knew about it. Mexican authorities are only good for Mexican authorities. Believe me, they’re not good for the United States.”
US drug enforcement agents are actively involved in the hunt for El Chapo, a law enforcement source involved in the probe told The Post.
“We will be using a lot of human intelligence, human informants to give us information on his whereabouts,” the source said.
“We’re talking to people on the street who are willing to give information on him for monetary means or leniency in regards to their own crimes. This is not just in Mexico but everywhere.”
Guzman, who also broke out of the same prison in 2001, is likely still in Mexico, where he has supporters willing to help him evade authorities, the source said.
“He’s a folk hero there,” the source explained. “If he goes to another country, then his support system is based on the people he would have to pay off.”
The source said DEA agents had alerted Mexican officials that the kingpin was hatching an escape plan behind bars.
He certainly had help from authorities inside Altiplano prison.
“It would be impossible to pull something like this off without someone in the prison system being complicit,” the source said.
Three prison officials, including Altiplano’s director, Valentin Cardenas, have already been sacked, and authorities are questioning more than 30 others.
“They had something or a lot to do with what happened, and that’s why we made that decision,” said Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, insisting that Mexican authorities were in the dark about a specific escape plan.
Meanwhile, Trump vaulted into first place in a national poll of GOP voters released Tuesday.
Among likely Republican primary voters, 17 percent backed Trump, compared with 14 percent for Jeb Bush, the Suffolk University/USA survey found.
“We have officials all over the place, including right outside hanging out in trees,” Trump told reporters Tuesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Albemarle Estate, his new winery and bed and breakfast in Charlottesville, Va.
Trump arrived with extra brawn, including two state troopers who escorted him from his helicopter.
The Donald is on edge after a threatening tweet fired off from an account that apparently belongs to Sinaloa Cartel king El Chapo.
Guzman broke out of a maximum-security prison in Mexico on Saturday, using a red motorbike to travel through a sophisticated, milelong tunnel that began under his cell’s shower before emerging at a remote construction site, new photos show.
“Keep f–king around and I’m gonna make you swallow your whore words you f–king whitey milks–tter,” the user @ElChap0Gusman taunted Trump in the menacing message, which reached hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers.
“I’m better than them,” El Chapo later tweeted about Trump and his entourage.
The account’s authenticity has yet to be verified, but Trump took the threat seriously, alerting FBI agents.
“Law enforcement is working very hard right now on the situation here,” he said at the winery.
When asked if he’d heard back from federal agents, he simply said, “I am not supposed to be talking about it.”
But he wasn’t afraid to blast Mexican authorities for how they’ve handled the prison bust, charging, “They knew about it. Mexican authorities are only good for Mexican authorities. Believe me, they’re not good for the United States.”
US drug enforcement agents are actively involved in the hunt for El Chapo, a law enforcement source involved in the probe told The Post.
“We will be using a lot of human intelligence, human informants to give us information on his whereabouts,” the source said.
“We’re talking to people on the street who are willing to give information on him for monetary means or leniency in regards to their own crimes. This is not just in Mexico but everywhere.”
Guzman, who also broke out of the same prison in 2001, is likely still in Mexico, where he has supporters willing to help him evade authorities, the source said.
“He’s a folk hero there,” the source explained. “If he goes to another country, then his support system is based on the people he would have to pay off.”
The source said DEA agents had alerted Mexican officials that the kingpin was hatching an escape plan behind bars.
Modal Trigger
The Mexican government, which rejected a US plea to turn Guzman over
to the United States when he was recaptured in 2014, could be more
willing to do so this time because his escape was such an
“embarrassment,” according to the law enforcement source.
A
forensics worker climbs up a ladder leading to the exit of the tunnel
that Guzman used to escape from the Altiplano prison in Almoloya,
Mexico.Photo: AP
He certainly had help from authorities inside Altiplano prison.
“It would be impossible to pull something like this off without someone in the prison system being complicit,” the source said.
Three prison officials, including Altiplano’s director, Valentin Cardenas, have already been sacked, and authorities are questioning more than 30 others.
“They had something or a lot to do with what happened, and that’s why we made that decision,” said Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, insisting that Mexican authorities were in the dark about a specific escape plan.
Meanwhile, Trump vaulted into first place in a national poll of GOP voters released Tuesday.
Among likely Republican primary voters, 17 percent backed Trump, compared with 14 percent for Jeb Bush, the Suffolk University/USA survey found.
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