Farage to take Lucy Connolly's case to key Trump allies in US Congress testimony
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is set to take the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for tweeting about setting fire to asylum hotels with migrants inside, to the US Congress next month.
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Mr Farage will testify before the House Judiciary Committee in early September, and told The Telegraph that Connolly's case would be “a very central point of what I’m discussing”.
The committee is stacked with key allies of President Donald Trump, including chairman Representative Jim Jordan, and will discuss threats to freedom of expression in the UK.
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Connolly, 42, left HMP Peterborough on Thursday morning after spending more than 300 days behind bars.
She was handed a 31-month sentence after she posted on X: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care … if that makes me racist so be it.”
Her tweet was posted after three young girls were murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party, and false far-right conspiracy theories that the killer was an asylum seeker spread online.
Connolly pleaded guilty to one count of inciting racial hatred in relation to the post.
Farage's appearance on September 3 will come against the backdrop of tensions between the US and the UK over the recent introduction of the Online Safety Act.
Upon Connolly's release on Thursday, the Reform leader said she is “now a symbol of Keir Starmer’s authoritarian, broken, two-tier Britain”.
She has said since her release that she is considering legal action against the police.
Connolly said she felt police were “dishonest” and claimed her words were “massively twisted and used against me”.
Northamptonshire Police told LBC they are hoping to speak with Connolly soon regarding her allegations.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware of comments made by Lucy Connolly in an interview following her release from prison.
A press release from the CPS following her guilty plea on September 2 included a quote from Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit, which said: “During police interview Lucy Connolly stated she had strong views on immigration, told officers she did not like immigrants and claimed that children were not safe from them.”
Asked about possible legal action, Connolly told the Telegraph: “That’s something that I will be looking into. I don’t want to say too much because I need to seek legal advice on that, but I do think the police were dishonest in what they released and what they said about me, and I will be holding them to account for that.”