A health care worker on trial for allegedly posting medical records from the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg denied all allegations at trial, CNN reported Tuesday.
According to the report, federal prosecutors accuse Trent James Russell of improperly accessing Ginsburg's records in 2019, while she battled cancer and he was employed by an organ transplant coordinator, and then posted them to 4chan, a far-right message board infamous for being a hub of harassment and hate speech. Prosecutors further allege he may have done so out of antisemitic hate, saying that forensic analysts found his computer had done an internet search for "dirty Jew."
Russell maintains his innocence, telling the jury, “I never shared medical information for anybody except for authorized” purposes, and “I don’t really think about [Ginsburg] or any of the other justices all that often.” He denied being responsible for the "dirty Jew" search and said religion doesn't matter to him any more than “the color t-shirt that they wear.”
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The leak of medical records to 4chan prompted an internet blitz of speculation about the justice's health. Authorities began investigating around that time, after figuring out where the documents originated. Information about the case has been under seal for months.
The following year, Ginsburg died following a recurrence of her cancer, triggering a politically contentious Supreme Court nomination just weeks before the presidential election, which saw former President Donald Trump's removal from office.
According to the report, Russell told authorities he shared his hospital log-in information with other people. Sharing passwords to access medical records, he told jurors Tuesday, was routine to circumvent tech issues that could delay organ donations.
