A Texas woman is accused of making threats against the judge overseeing the trial
A Texas Democrat, a Republican, and a U.S. District Judge in Chutkan’s Criminal Investigation on Aug. 5, 2020
Trump’s statements about Chutkan are consistent with his previous statements about the judges and prosecutors working on the three other criminal trials in which he is a defendant. Trump faces a combined 91 charges.
Shry faces one count of “communication containing a threat to injure the person of another” and was detained on Wednesday at the order of a U.S. magistrate judge.
Abigail Jo Shry, 43, of Alvin, Texas, allegedly called the chambers for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and left a voicemail message on Aug. 5, promising to “kill anyone who went after former President Trump,” according to an affidavit.
She also “made a direct threat to kill” to kill congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, as well all Washington Democrats, broadly, and all members of the LGBTQ community, according to the Department of Homeland Security special agent who signed the court filing.
“You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” Shry allegedly said. “Trump won’t be elected in 2024 so we are coming to kill you.”
A Houston area woman was detained on Wednesday and charged with threatening the federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s election interference case.
The courts are on a collision course with a public figure who wants to tear down tradition and respect, according to a criminal defense lawyer. “Judges will struggle to contain Mr. Trump and will doubtless ensure that these matters are tried before juries, but the dynamic will be ugly and likely further divide us.”
The former Georgia Lieutenant Gov. was urged not to testify before the grand jury in Georgia because of his potential testimony against Trump in a federal election interference trial.
Multiple news organizations reported that Trump’s lawyers were against holding the news conference at his golf club in Bedminster after 13 counts of racketeering were filed by a Georgia district attorney.
Towards the First Amendment: When Donald Trump is a Charged Criminal defendant, He’s Not Heavier than he Thinks
Barry Boss, a former assistant federal public defender who now represents clients at the firm Cozen O’Connor, said defense attorneys generally warn clients not to talk to anyone about the case against them. “In the normal case, there are only risks and no benefits,” Boss added.
Moreover, Boss said, prosecutors could point to Trump’s recent remarks that more indictments only serve to increase his lead over his political rivals for the 2024 GOP nomination for the White House the next time Trump and his legal team tell judges that the criminal cases are interfering with the election.
But Judge Chutkan said that Trump’s status as a criminal defendant meant that some of his First Amendment rights must “yield” to a need to protect witnesses and the jury pool from possible taint.
Robert Luskin, who started his career decades ago in the Justice Department’s organized crime and racketeering section, said he had watched more than one mafia-linked defendant catch new charges for obstruction, based on statements the defendants made after an indictment.
Luskin said it’s interesting that Trump has gone after the federal special counsel Jack Smith, Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Donald Trump did not criticize the judge he appointed to the bench in 2020. Cannon is presiding over a case that accuses Trump of keeping highly classified documents in a room at his Mar-a-Lago resort, then refusing to return them to the FBI. The judge was overruled by equally conservative federal appeals court judges in a related dispute involving Trump last year.
“One can only assume that he believes she is inclined to be sympathetic to him and does not want either to piss her off or put her in a position where she simply has to act in order to preserve her credibility and dignity,” Luskin said.
