MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A jury found a Wisconsin man guilty Thursday of forging threats against President Donald trump in an attempt to get the victim in a robbery case against him deported.
Online court records show the Milwaukee County jury found 52-year-old Demetric Scott guilty of felony identity theft and witness intimidation after deliberating for most of the day. He represented himself during the three-day trial and was immediately taken into custody after the verdicts were read, leaving no way to reach him for comment on Thursday evening.
According to court documents, Mexican immigrant Ramon Morales Reyes was riding his bike in Milwaukee in September 2023 when Scott approached him and kicked him off the bike. He stabbed Morales Reyes with a box cutter before stealing the bike and riding away.
Scott was arrested hours later. While he was in jail, Scott wrote multiple letters posing as Morales Reyes to state and federal officials threatening to kill Trump at a rally. Federal immigration authorities took Morales Reyes into custody in May after he dropped his daughter off at school.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted his photo on social media, along with an excerpt of a letter he purportedly wrote in English promising to shoot Trump at a rally. The White House and Trump supporters played up his arrest as a major success in the administration's crackdown on immigration.
Investigators determined that Morales Reyes couldn't have written the letters since he doesn't speak English well, can't write in the language and the handwriting in the letters didn't match his.
Meanwhile, Scott was making calls from jail in which he talked about letters that needed to be mailed and a plan to get U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to pick someone up so his trial could get dismissed. He admitted to police that he wrote the letters.
Scott was charged separately with armed robbery, battery, and reckless endangerment in connection with the bike incident. The jury on Thursday acquitted him on the robbery and battery counts but found him guilty on the endangerment charge.
Court records show prosecutors charged Scott in 2022 with being a party to burglary. He was out on bail in connection with that case when the bike incident happened and wrote the letters, prompting prosecutors to charge him with three counts of bail jumping. The jury on Thursday found him guilty on one of those counts but acquitted him on the remaining two charges.
All together, he faces up to 26 years in the state prison system when he's sentenced on Feb. 27. The burglary charge is still pending.
The Noem news release with Morales Reyes' photo touting his arrest is still posted on the DHS website but now includes a disclaimer stating that he's no longer under investigation for threatening Trump but remains in ICE custody pending deportation. The release says he entered the U.S. illegally nine times between 1998 and 2005 and has a criminal record that includes arrests for felony hit and run, property damage and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier.
Morales Reyes was released on $7,500 bond in June and is currently residing with his family in Milwaukee, his deportation defense attorney, Cain Oulahan, said. He has applied for a U-visa, a document that allows crime victims and their family members to remain in the U.S., but Oulahan said it could take years to obtain one.
Wisconsin online court records do not show any criminal cases involving Morales Reyes. Oulahan, his attorney, said that all the background checks he has conducted on Morales Reyes have turned up nothing.
Morales Reyes moved to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s. He worked as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, is married and has three children who are U.S. citizens, according to his attorneys. He said Scott's conviction is a huge relief for Morales Reyes and his family.
"He’s been traumatized by going through all this, all these different levels that feel like victimization," Oulahan said. “He just wants to work and be with his family again."
FILE - Cain Oulahan, center, Ramon Morales Reyes' immigration attorney addresses the media, May 30, 2025 in Milwaukee about the detention of his client Ramon Morales Reyes. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump is capping her first year back as first lady with the global release of a documentary she produced about the 20 days leading up to husband Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“Melania” will premiere Thursday at the Kennedy Center, where the Trumps are expected to walk the red carpet before the film opens in theaters worldwide Friday. They hosted a similar viewing at the White House last Saturday.
The first lady has said that she got the idea for the documentary after her husband won the 2024 election and that it will give viewers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at her life.
“My new film, ‘Melania,’ provides a window into an important period for America, the 47th presidential inauguration," she said Wednesday before ringing the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange. "For the first time in history, people will witness the 20 days leading up to the inauguration, through the eyes of an incoming first lady.”
A private person, Melania Trump still remains a bit of a mystery to the public in her husband's second term.
She said the film will show what it takes to step into the high-profile role as she juggles being a businessperson, a wife and a mother, as well as the coordinator of her family's move back to the Executive Mansion.
“Everyone wants to know. So here it is,” she says in the trailer for the nearly two-hour film.
In another scene from the trailer, it is Inauguration Day and Melania Trump is inside the Capitol, waiting to be escorted into the Rotunda for the ceremony. She turns her head, looks directly into the camera that had been documenting her every move and says, “Here we go again.”
She wrote in her self-titled memoir published in 2024 about how much she values her privacy. She is not as frequently seen or heard from as often as some of her recent predecessors, which may be influencing the public's perceptions of her. But she also likes to do things her way.
The U.S. public is divided on their views of the first lady, but a significant number — about 4 in 10 adults — had no opinion or had not heard of her, according to a CNN poll from January 2025. About 3 in 10 adults saw her favorably while roughly the same share had an unfavorable opinion.
Her standing among Republicans was higher, with about 7 in 10 saying in the poll that they viewed her favorably, but around one-quarter did not have an opinion.
Experts said the film could help improve perceptions of her.
“I think it’s an attempt, in a way, to really augment or tailor or really refine her image for the American public,” said Katherine Sibley, who teaches history at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “She’s a mystery to the American people.”
Melania Trump, 55, said she's honored to execute the traditional duties of first lady, such as holding state dinners, hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll and decorating for Christmas. But she also has suggested she wants to leave her mark in other ways, too.
“I want to impact Americans' lives,” she said this week during an interview on Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends.”
She spent chunks of time away from Washington last year working on the documentary and was deeply involved in every aspect of its development, according to Marc Beckman, her longtime senior adviser.
The well-being and safety of children remains one of her top priorities, and she has used her influence to lobby Congress to pass the “Take It Down Act,” making it a federal crime to publish intimate images online without consent. The president signed the bill into law and had her sign it, too.
Her advocacy for foster children was enshrined in an executive order creating a “Fostering the Future” program. It's part of the “Be Best” child-focused initiative she launched in the first term.
She also wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin last year for help reuniting children who had been separated from their families because of his war against Ukraine. She had her husband hand-deliver the letter when the leaders met in Alaska, and she later announced that eight children had been reunited with their families.
The first lady accompanied the president on visits to disaster zones, where she helped console victims. She has taken a prominent role in the administration's efforts on artificial intelligence and education and launched a global version of the foster child program.
She told guests at a White House Christmas reception that she is working on a new legislative effort for 2026, but has not yet shared details.
It was unclear how much money Melania Trump stands to earn or what her plans are for any film proceeds. Experts said it was unusual for a first lady to pursue a project of this kind from the White House — but not unusual for the Trumps.
“As far as I know, she’s the first first lady to be paid a lot of money to have a documentary made about her and it is unprecedented in terms of the Trumps because they are always breaking precedent,” said Katherine Jellison, professor emerita of history at Ohio University.
Presidents and first ladies generally refrain from pursuing outside business ventures while in office to avoid potential conflicts of interest or raising ethical concerns.
Both Trumps participate in numerous business ventures, selling everything from watches, fragrances and Bibles for him to jewelry, Christmas ornaments and digital collectibles for her.
The movie also marks another link between the Trumps and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has worked to improve a once-tense relationship with the president. The documentary, which was produced by AmazonMGM Studios and is said to have cost $40 million, will stream exclusively on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service after its theatrical run.
Amazon has declined to comment on the financial arrangements.
The film was set for release in approximately 1,600 screens worldwide on Friday, including about 1,500 in the United States. The premiere is to be simulcast in 21 theaters nationwide for invited guests on Thursday to help build excitement for the launch.
The movie is the first project by director Brett Ratner since he was accused of sexual misconduct in the early days of the #MeToo reckoning. Ratner's lawyer has denied the allegations.
He shares producer credits with the first lady, Beckman and Fernando Sulichin of New Element Media. Filming began in December 2024.
Associated Press writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., and his wife Kelly arrive for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer arrive for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and his wife Kathryn arrive for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A worker removes plastic from the carpet before the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
First lady Melania Trump delivers her remarks in the New York Stock Exchange board room before ringing the opening bell, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
First lady Melania Trump signs the book on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange before ringing the opening bell, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
First lady Melania Trump poses for photos on the podium after ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
