The judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump has received dozens of threats in recent days, police sources told media.
Trump himself had lashed out at New York Judge Juan Merchan, calling him “Trump hating.” Merchan previously oversaw the tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization that ended in a conviction.
Most of the threats are in the form of harassing calls and emailed death threats. Most appear to originate out of state, but police are taking them seriously regardless and running down each one.
“Over the past weeks we have continued to evaluate and assess security concerns and potential threats and have maintained an increased security presence in and around courthouses and throughout the judiciary and will adjust protocols as necessary,” a spokesman for the Office of Court Administration said.
Most of the harassing and defamatory calls and emails have come into Merchan’s chambers and are being assessed.
Trump, after the hearing, flew straight back home to Florida, where he delivered a grievance-filled primetime speech, again criticizing the prosecution and judge presiding over the case despite being admonished hours earlier about incendiary rhetoric.
Trump is due back in court in December for a hearing, though lawyers have asked that he be excused from attending because of the extraordinary security involved. Prosecutors asked the judge to set a trial for January – just weeks before the first votes will be cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Trump’s lawyers said they felt a more realistic start date would be the spring – a time when Trump could theoretically have locked down the Republican nomination, or be in the midst of a bitter primary fight.
There was no immediate comment from the Office of Court Administration on Merchan’s security.
