Trump, GOP Ditch Alleged Kiddie Porn-Making, Machine Gun-Toting Delegate
Oops: Another apparently appalling character was all set to rep for the presumptive GOP nominee.
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Donald Trump has a huge delegate problem.
Nine days after it was revealed that a white-nationalist leader had been made a California delegate for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, a Maryland delegate was indicted for illegal transport of explosives, illegal possession of a machine gun, and child pornography offenses.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, 30-year-old Caleb Andrew Bailey, of Waldorf, Maryland, used a minor to produce kiddie porn between March 2015 to January 2016. (Bailey faces a maximum of 10 years for the explosives and firearm, and 30 years for the child porn.) A spokeswoman at U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland told The Daily Beast Thursday afternoon that Bailey is currently still “in federal custody.”
Multiple sources confirmed to The Daily Beast that this Caleb Bailey is the same Caleb Bailey who serves as a Trump delegate.
Or, at least he used to.
The Maryland Republican Party is in the process of kicking the alleged machine-gun-touting, child pornographer to the curb as we speak.
“We are asking him to resign, and will soon be be in process of replacing him” on the Maryland delegation, Joe Cluster, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, told The Daily Beast on Thursday afternoon. “We are promoting an alternate delegate from the district … Somebody got lucky, I guess. [The replacement] can sit on the floor now.”
The Trump campaign wasn’t thrilled with these revelations, either. “We strongly condemn these allegations and leave it in the capable hands of law enforcement,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks emailed The Daily Beast. “He will be replaced immediately.”
Prior to the indictment announced on Thursday, Caleb Bailey’s criminal record in the state was essentially clean, with just a few traffic violations.
That’s why the revelation struck another Maryland Trump delegate as odd.
“I think it’s a witch hunt,” Jim Crawford said in a phone interview with The Daily Beast.
Crawford, who said he has known Bailey all his life and once coached him in soccer, added that “I know him to be a fine individual. A fine young man. I’ve known him since he was born. He’s a fine young man. I suspect that he’s completely innocent.”
Crawford suggested that the presence of child pornography on Bailey’s computer could have come from a virus.
“If they found something like that, he just drew a virus,” Crawford asserted. “Shoot, I know people that’s been affected by viruses. Who’s ever gotten an email that they thought was inappropriate? Heck, there might be that kind of stuff on my computer.”
Public records show that Bailey has worked at B.Y. Lumber Company in White Plains, Maryland. When reached by The Daily Beast on Thursday, a female employee there said she had not yet heard of the indictment.
“He’s not an actual employee, he’s a grader—he measures the lumber,” she said. “We’re a sawmill…He’s like a tallyman.”
Bailey has also previously donated money to Republican politicians including libertarian icon Ron Paul—and his dad Collins A. Bailey, who ran in 2008 for a House seat in Maryland, works as a lumber broker in the state and was previously the 1st Vice Chair of the Maryland GOP. The elder Bailey, who was endorsed by Ron Paul, is also a Trump delegate this year, according to the State Board of Elections website.
Collins Bailey, Caleb’s father did not respond to requests for comment about his son via email. When The Daily Beast called the Bailey Lumber Company, a man identifying himself as Collins said “I don’t have any comment,” and hung up.
—Andrew Desiderio contributed reporting.