Norfolk family says they received ‘veiled threat’ over Trump banners

A couple in Norfolk said they returned from vacation Saturday to find what they initially thought was a letter from former President Donald Trump’s campaign. 

Instead, it was a threat was “full of a lot of hate speech,” Craig Koch said.

Norfolk police confirmed they are investigating the letter.

The letter, dated July 4, was addressed to Koch and his wife at their Norfolk home. When going through their vacation mail, Koch said they saw the Trump campaign’s logo, including the “Make America Great Again” line, displayed as the return address and at the top of the letter itself. 

The letter began tamely but quickly targeted the family for the Trump banners on their property. Koch said they have three banners that read “Women for Trump,” “Trump,” and “Trump 2024.”

“It was noticed that your signs that are displayed on your garage doors are not in current compliance with MAGA regulations,” the letter’s first paragraph said. “Therefore, you and your family have been reported to the MAGA legal counsel for discipline at a later date, but certainly prior to the November 2024 presidential election.”

“In other words, ‘we’re going to make sure your vote never gets counted.’ That’s how we interpreted it,” Koch said. “They’re going to do something to us before the election. It was a threat.”

The letter goes on to say that the Kochs should purchase new banners and display the new signage no less than four feet off the ground or on the roof, so “any communist democrat will be sure to see your MAGA signage from afar,” the letter said.

The final and longest paragraph of the letter asks the Koch for a $2,500 donation. The letter then said their neighbors in Norfolk and Walpole already consider them “completely fools and idiots” for supporting Trump, “a convicted felon (40+ times), sexual predator, fraudster, liar, wife cheater, bully, and a lot more.”

“We are once again canvassing your region in an effort to fleece as many low IQ MAGA members, like yourselves, prior to former President Donald J. Trump’s incarceration in federal prison,” the letter said. “We thank you for your incredible stupidity.”

Koch said they opened the letter Saturday before the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

“We all have our right to free speech, and we’re not out there telling other people what to do or what to think. We’re just showing our support for a presidential candidate,” Koch said. “I would hope that our neighborhood and our townspeople would support us and hope for the best for us.”