Trump's Trials - Threats against judges in Trump-related cases soar

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

For this episode of Trump's Trials, All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro speaks with Reuters reporter Ned Parker.On Monday Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the New York hush money case, expanded a gag order to protect his own family. That's after former President Donald Trump repeatedly attacked the judge's daughter on Truth Social. In his ruling Judge Merchan wrote, "the threat is very real."This follows a recent report out from Reuters that found threats against federal judges, prosecutors, judicial staff and court buildings has tripled since 2015. Judges in federal Trump-related cases often receive death threats, credible enough to warrant protection from the U.S. Marshals Service.Topics include:- Increase in threats - Connection to Trump- Judges and U.S. Marshals' response Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for new episodes each Saturday.Sign up for sponsor-free episodes and support NPR's political journalism at plus.npr.org/trumpstrials.Email the show at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This is Trump's Trials from NPR. I'm Scott Detro. We love Trump! This is a persecution. He actually just stormed out of the courtroom. We love him! Innocent to proven guilty in a court of law. Here in your feed today to share some interesting analysis that erred on all things considered today

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From your car radio to your smart speaker, NPR meets you where you are in a lot of different ways. Now we're in your pocket. Download the NPR app today. You're listening to Trump's Trials. I'm Scott Detrow. And now here's Ari Shapiro. It's not unusual for judges to get threats from the mafia, terrorist organizations, or

street criminals. None of that compares to the level of abuse and hostility against judges hearing cases involving former president Donald Trump. One of those judges, Juan Marchand, just expanded a gag order on Trump after the former president named Marchand's daughter and posted photos of her on Truth Social. A report from Reuters finds that threats against courts and justice officials have tripled since 2015. Ned Parker is one of the reporters who worked on the story. Welcome to All Things Considered. Hi Ari.

You spoke to more than a dozen judges for the story and you open by talking about one of them, Judge Royce Lamberth, who has been on the court for a very long time and never seen anything like this. What's his experience been? Right, what struck him is the high volume of threats he's receiving related to January 6th cases.

His wife, related to one case, received a phone call at home where a person described wanting to kill her husband. Well, it falls to the US Marshals Service to protect federal judges and other court personnel. You reviewed their data, you interviewed people with the Marshals. Are they able to handle this wave of threats and hostility? The challenge for the martial services, right, we've seen 27,000 threats against the federal courts from the fall of 2015 through the fall of 2022,

a volume they consider unprecedented in their history. Along with that, we've seen since 2020 a doubling of what they would consider to be serious threats against judges. And then the challenge with that is how do you determine whether someone is serious about acting and when is it just a threat? What leads you to conclude that these are connected to Donald Trump? Well, what's interesting is that the increase we've seen in serious threats against federal judges has really gone in parallel with the dozens of failed lawsuits that the president

and his supporters brought after the 2020 election, and then this most recent cascade of criminal and civil litigation. And then the former president himself has gone online on truth social and used terms such as crooked, rigged, corrupt, election interfering witch hunt to describe the judges and the judiciary. And with court filings, we see judges

and their court officers describing how threats against them have increased. And you've looked at the database of threats against federal judges, but there is no central record keeping for information about threats against state and local judges. And Juan Marchand, who we mentioned, the judge hearing the Trump case involving Stormy Daniels, he's not a federal judge, so his case is not recorded in this data.

So do you have a sense of how those officials are doing? Well, we spoke to a lot of state judges for our story, and it's interesting. There's been an increase in threats. For instance, in Maricopa County in Arizona, where there were many cases related to the 2020 election, the 2022 election, the courts there have recorded a spike in threats. They've seen more than 400 cases of threats and harassments against their judges and staff between 2020 and 2023. Those were some numbers we obtained.

Now, not all of those are related to former President Donald Trump's cases or to political cases, but broadly local judges feel, in their words, what they describe to us is that there is a breakdown in trust that people have for the court system. And they also, some of the judges we spoke to, felt that the broader drama on the national stage where there's such heated rhetoric, whether it comes from Democrats, Republicans, or a certain branch of government, that it trickles down to the local level.

You report that arrests in these cases are very rare. So is anything being done to stop this? Well, legislation has been passed to, on the federal level and in some states to protect judges' personal information with the idea that their addresses, their phone numbers won't be put online and they won't be harassed. The challenge is that the genie is out of the bottle in that it's so easy to find somebody online at this point.

And then the other dilemma is that when there is such in that it's so easy to find somebody online at this point. And then the other dilemma is that when there is such at times violent and volatile language that's used to describe any institute of government or public servant, once you have this charged rhetoric, it's very hard to deescalate it. Reuters reporter, Ned Parker, thank you. Thanks, Ari. Thanks for listening to Trump's Trials from NPR.

Keep an eye out for more episodes like this whenever big news happens. And we'll be back later this week with our rake of the show on Saturday. I'm Scott Detro. Big news stories don't always break on your schedule, but with the NPR app, news, culture, and podcasts are ready when you want them. In your pocket, download the NPR app today. The day's top headlines, local stories from your community, your next podcast binge listen. You can have it all in one place, your pocket. Download the NPR app today.

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