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Trump Goon, 71, Busted Threatening to Choke His Own Intern

Leo Terrell leads the Justice Department’s “Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.”

One of O.J. Simpson’s closest friends and most vocal defenders threatened to choke his own intern with a laptop charger, it has been claimed.

Leo Terrell, a former Fox News contributor whom Donald Trump appointed to his Justice Department, was tapped by the president to lead a specialized task force in the wake of pro-Palestine protests.

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Now, interns of that group, the “Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism,” have spoken to The Harvard Crimson about his alleged mistreatment.

In one concerning episode, Terrell, 71, grilled a student, Tejas S. Billa, about leaving a charger at home. Billa and another intern told the student publication that Terrell accused Billa of lying about forgetting the charger and threatened to fire him from his unpaid position over the seemingly minor indiscretion.

Then he allegedly got even more aggressive. The Trump mega acolyte, a civil rights attorney by trade, allegedly told Billa, who also interned at the Republican National Committee, that he would strangle him with the cable when he brought it to work the next day.

Terrell disputes this. The Crimson has seen messages from that time showing Billas explaining the confrontation, as well as recordings of his official complaint to Stacy L. Harwood, an office manager in the Office of the Associate Attorney General.

“He’s been terrible, hasn’t he?” she asked, unprompted, the publication reported.

“He’s threatened me, career-wise, physically, whatnot,” Billa said, explaining the charger incident. “I don’t really take it as a joke given the sort of power.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” she replied. “This unfortunately has been a pattern.”

Billa quit his role nine days later. Three other interns offered paid roles at the task force have also quit, The Crimson reported.

Billa and three other interns, who are all Jewish, described a variety of angry outbursts by Terrell. He reportedly tried to dictate who they spoke to, including Harwood, threatening their careers if they did.

“‘I’ll destroy your career’ was another one of the lines he used if we were caught talking to anyone outside of the office or going anywhere that he did not specify,” Billa said.

He also claimed that the former Fox News talking head threatened to have him arrested by the FBI for taking home notes that, Billa claims, Terrell actually told him to take home.

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The whistleblower also claimed that Terrell made weird comments about women. “This is why I prefer to hire women,” Terrell would say when a male challenged a decision, according to Billa.

Again, Terrell denied this, telling The Crimson he only wanted to “work with the best, most qualified individuals.”

Billa said, on the same day as the charger debacle, the 71-year-old called a female intern “Miss Cheerleader.” He said it was because of her cheerleader-like sweater. She said she wasn’t even wearing a sweater.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Terrell for further comment.

The “Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism” was created in February 2025 to “root out antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses” in the wake of pro-Palestine protests.

On Fox News last year, Terrell vowed to “bankrupt these universities” if they don’t “play ball.” A longtime registered Democrat, he came out in support of Trump in 2020.

In the 1990s, though, Terrell made waves for a different reason: he was a friend and outspoken supporter of Simpson, a star former NFL running back, while he was tried for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.

Terrell often cropped up as a talking head in news reports out of the media frenzy that enveloped Simpson, offering commentary on the racial divide spurred by the trial.

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