Pro-Trump 'ticking time bomb' held without bail for alleged death threats against judges, prosecutors

25 July 2024

After Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Western Pennsylvania on Saturday July 13, far-right Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) — now Trump's running mate — was quick to blame President Joe Biden.

But Biden and countless other Democrats wholeheartedly condemned the attack. And some pointed out that the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was a registered Republican, emphasizing that political violence is hardly unique to the left and noting the many death threats aimed at judges, prosecutors and politicians who have clashed with Trump.

In Nevada, 32-year-old Trump supporter Spencer Gear is facing federal criminal charges for, prosecutors allege, making death threats against federal judges, prosecutors and lawmakers. And on Tuesday, July 23, a magistrate judge ordered him held without bail.

Politico reporters Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney describe the Gear case as "a stark illustration of the atmosphere of threats enveloping the federal judiciary, as well as for state judges and other officials handling cases against former President Donald Trump."

"Prosecutors say Gear targeted five federal judges in Washington, D.C.," Gerstein and Cheney explain. "He's also accused of threatening U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw two civil trials against Trump in suits brought by a writer accusing him of sexual assault, and New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who recently presided over Trump's criminal hush money trial in Manhattan."

The reporters add, "Gear is accused of an extraordinary spree of violent threats and misogynistic profanity. Prosecutors say he left voicemail messages accusing the officials of corruption and declaring that they would soon be executed."

Prosecutors allege that Gear also threatened Justice Juan Merchan, Judge Reggie Walton and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. Merchan has set a September 18 sentencing date for the 34 criminal counts that Trump was convicted on in Bragg's hush money/falsified business records case.

At Gear's bail hearing on July 23, federal prosecutor Jacob Operskalski told the court, "This defendant is a ticking time bomb. His words are reminiscent of the Holocaust as he dehumanizes his victims, calling them filth, calling them trash."

Read Politico's full report at this link.

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