Days after the judge in one of the former president’s cases warned Trump about “inflammatory statements,” a woman was arrested for threatening that judge
A Texas woman was arrested Wednesday for calling in a threat to kill Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, the federal judge who is presiding over one of former President Donald Trump’s legal cases.
According to the New York Times, the woman called the judge’s chambers on August 5 and left a voicemail message that included a racial slur as well as a threat to kill the judge.
“If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, [expletive],” the woman said on the voicemail, per the complaint. The woman had also threatened another elected official, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). After the calls, her phone number was traced.
The judge, who is presiding over the case in which Trump has been charged in Washington in the 2020 election probe, had warned the former president about making “inflammatory statements.” Trump, on Truth Social, has been directly critical of Chutkan, as well as other judges in his different cases. The judge had been given additional security less than two weeks ago.
“Ensuring that judges can rule independently and free from harm or intimidation is paramount to the rule of law, and a fundamental mission of the USMS,” U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Drew J. Wade told CNN earlier this month. “While we do not discuss our specific security measures, we continuously review the measures in place and take appropriate steps to ensure the integrity of the federal judicial process.
The Times added that when federal agents arrived at the home of the Texas woman, she admitted she had left the voicemail. And while she said she had “no plans” to visit Washington or Lee’s district in Houston, “if Sheila Jackson Lee comes to Alvin, then we need to worry,” which was construed as another threat.
The woman’s father, in court papers, described his own daughter as a “nonviolent alcoholic” who “sits on her couch daily watching the news while drinking too many beers.”
The arrest comes just over a week after the FBI shot and killed a Utah man who had made numerous social media posts threatening to kill President Biden, Vice President Harris, and various prosecutors involved in Trump’s cases.
The next hearing in the case before Judge Chutkan is scheduled for August 28, when a trial date may be set in the case.
The dates are very much not set in stone, but per a timeline of possible 2024 trial dates laid out on Twitter by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney, Trump could stand trial in January in Washington and early February, in March in Georgia, in late March to mid-April in New York, and in Florida starting in late May- all while in the thick of the presidential primary season. And that’s to say nothing of the multiple civil trials that Trump may face in 2024.
That schedule, however, implies that prosecutors are given the trial dates they want, that there are no delays, and that none of the trials bleed into any of the others- none of which is likely.
Still, it’s possible that Trump could be convicted of a crime at some point while the Republican primary electorate is still voting. And before that, the headlines will be filled, throughout a large chunk of the 2024 campaign, with reminders of bad things that Trump did in the past, with a choice put before voters of whether they want him to be president again.
Matthew Whitaker, who briefly served as Trump’s acting attorney general, said this week that the proposed trial date in the Georgia case, prior to Super Tuesday, was part of a “coordinated” attack on the former president.
“This is all planned and coordinated in order to try to prevent Donald Trump from being strong enough to win the election in November,” Whitaker said on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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