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Man who smashed Trump’s Hollywood star with pickax was bailed out by guy who did it 2 years earlier
A man who was arrested for smashing up Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was bailed out by someone surprising - the guy who had done the exact same thing, just two years earlier.
Occurring in 2018, a then-24 year old called Austin Clay decided on a very... permanent way to decry Donald Trump, who was then serving his first term as US President.
Clay was arrested for the vandalism on the star... but then found salvation in the most unlikely of places.
Why Donald Trump's Hollywood star vandal paid Austin Clay's $20,000 bond
After being arrested for the vandalism of Trump's Hollywood star, Austin Clay was held on a $20,000 bond.
After destroying the Hollywood star with a pickax he'd removed out of a guitar case, Clay actually called the LAPD himself to report the crime.
According to the officer who took the call, Clay signed off with "see you soon" and handed himself in at the Beverly Hills police station an hour later.
At the time, TMZ reported that Clay's bail had been posted by none other than James Otis, who came to fame after first attacking Trump's Hollywood star in two years earlier in 2016, the year he was first sworn in as US President after winning a contentious election against Hillary Clinton.
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Otis, in his attack on the Hollywood star, had dressed up as a construction worker before taking a sledgehammer to Trump's adornment on the Walk of Fame, just days before the 2016 election between Trump and Clinton which, of course, ended up in Trump's victory and his first term as US President.
For his own charge, Otis pleaded no contest, had three years probation, and paid $4,400 dollars.
Two years later, he helped bail out Clay - not much of a financial stretch for him, given that he's an heir to the Otis elevator fortune - and also offered to cover the 24 year old's legal bills too.
If that wasn't enough, he said that he believed in the young man's cause and was looking forward to meeting him upon his release.
How many times has Donald Trump's Hollywood star been vandalized?
Since his victory at the 2016 US election, Trump's Hollywood star has been a constant source of attack for vandals looking to make their mark.
It has been attacked at least half a dozen times in the last decade, with the most recent being January of this year.