Topline
The names and addresses of the grand jury members that indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants in Fulton County, Georgia, this week were posted on a fringe website known for violent extremism, the non-partisan research group Advance Democracy confirmed to Forbes on Wednesday, marking the latest threats against jurors and prosecutors over four indictments against the former president.
The Fulton County courthouse.
Key Facts
The jurors’ names and addresses were seen by the non-partisan research group Advance Democracy, NBC News first reported (Forbes has reached out to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for comment).
According to the report, the addresses were posted on the fringe site while the jurors were later specifically targeted on other, more mainstream sites including, Facebook, TikTok, Truth Social and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, prompting the term “Civil War” to trend Wednesday.
In a post on a separate fringe site, a user wrote: “These jurors have signed their death warrant by falsely indicting President Trump,” the report found.
Daniel Jones, a former FBI investigator, told Forbes, “it’s becoming all too commonplace to see everyday citizens performing necessary functions for our democracy being targeted with violent threats by Trump-supporting extremists.”
Trump was indicted on 13 felony counts Monday stemming from his alleged efforts to overturn the results of his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden in Georgia, including by violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law by allegedly engaging in a “criminal organization” to overturn the election results, as well as counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer and conspiracy to commit impersonation of a public officer, stemming from his legal team’s fake electors scheme.
Tangent
Just before Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in March over hush money payments to three people ahead of the 2016 presidential election, the husband of one of those people—adult film star Stormy Daniels—said Daniels also faced death threats. In an interview with Vogue, Daniels’ husband, Barret Blade, said people threatened to set her house on fire and kill her and her family. That same month, suspicious white powder and a threatening letter were sent to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Chief Critic
In a similar vein to his first three indictments since launching his 2024 presidential campaign late last year, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to blast the Fulton County indictment, writing: the “DOJ and Radical Left Lunatics are Criminalizing Political Speech, a total SHUTDOWN OF DEMOCRACY!” Trump also took exception with the timing of the indictment, arguing it should have been delayed until after the 2024 election, claiming that by bringing charges during the campaign cycle, the grand jury is engaging in “election interference.”
Further Reading
Trump Indicted By Fulton County Grand Jury In Georgia Election Interference Case (Forbes)
Trump Indicted In Georgia: Here Are The Crimes He’s Been Charged With—And The Prison Sentences They Carry (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/08/16/trump-grand-jurors-names-and-addresses-posted-on-fringe-site-known-for-violent-extremism/