- As Trump racks up indictments, his supporters are threatening and doxxing judges and jurors.
- Homeland Security alleged that a Trump supporter told a judge overseeing his case "You are in our sights, we want to kill you."
- Far-right message boards also lit up with violent threats against grand jurors in Georgia after Trump was indicted (again) this week.
Former President Donald Trump went on the attack this week after he was hit with a fourth criminal case.
And as the former president keeps racking up indictments, his most extreme supporters are stepping up their rhetoric too, escalating their threats against judges and jurors involved in handing down those indictments.
A Texas woman was arrested last week after the Department of Homeland Security said she made death threats against the Washington, DC, judge presiding over the special counsel Jack Smith's 2020 election interference case against Trump.
Abigail Jo Shry called Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is Black, a "stupid slave," adding, "You are in our sights, we want to kill you," according to an affidavit from a DHS officer.
"If Trump doesn't get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you," Shry said in the August 5 voicemail, the DHS alleged. "So tread lightly, bitch ... You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it."
Shry told Department of Homeland Security officials that she didn't really mean she'd kill the judge, according to the affidavit — but she's still facing a federal charge that carries up to a five-year sentence.
The Houston public defender's office representing Shry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other Trump supporters online discussed targeting the grand jurors in another Trump case, according to media reports.
After Georgia prosecutors indicted Trump and 18 other co-defendants in a sprawling RICO case, far-right message boards lit up with threats of violence against the grand jurors — whose names were listed in the indictment — who voted to charge the former president.
One user wrote that the list of jurors' names was a "hit list," Media Matters reported. Another user responded, "Based. Godspeed anons, you have all the long range rifles in the world."
A user on a pro-Trump QAnon message board posted the names of the jurors and their purported addresses, Media Matters reported, and a user on another message board threatened to "follow these people home and photograph their faces."
Prosecutors had flagged the potential risks associated with indicting the former president who's been outspoken against his perceived enemies.
Earlier this month, Smith's office asked Chutkan to issue a protective order in the January 6 case, and specifically cited a Truth Social post in which Trump wrote, "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!"
Prosecutors wanted to limit what evidence Trump and his lawyers could disclose to the public.
These limits were essential, they argued, because Trump "has previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys and others associated with legal matters pending against him."
Trump's campaign defended his Truth Social post as constitutionally protected free speech.
Chutkan ruled that Trump could review the discovery materials — but that he couldn't bring his phone or other electronics while doing so. The judge also warned the former president about making "inflammatory statements."
"I intend to ensure the orderly administration of justice in this case as I would with any other case," she said. "The more a party makes inflammatory statements about this case which could taint the jury pool or intimidate potential witnesses, the greater the urgency will be that we proceed to trial to ensure a jury pool from which we can select an impartial jury."