In the 24 hours since former President Donald Trump’s arraignment, the presiding judge and his family have received multiple threats, two sources familiar with the matter said.
One official said “dozens” of threats have recently been directed at Judge Juan Merchan and his chambers but did not give an exact time frame for them.
The other source said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other top officials in his office continue to receive threats. The threats have been in the form of calls, emails and letters.
The New York police detail assigned to the DA’s office is providing extra security to all affected staff members. Court officers, meanwhile, are boosting security for the judge and the court as a whole as a precaution.
Other steps have been taken, as well. Online bios of employees at the Manhattan district attorney’s office were recently removed from the DA’s website, according to a source familiar with the matter, because of troubling posts on social media, including Trump’s Truth Social platform.
Trump and his allies have publicly criticized Merchan and his family, including his adult daughter.
Ahead of his court appearance Tuesday, Trump blasted Merchan on his Truth Social account as a “highly partisan judge” and said the judge and his family are “Trump haters.” In the post, Trump said, “HIS DAUGHTER WORKED FOR ‘KAMALA’ & NOW THE BIDEN-HARRIS CAMPAIGN.”
The former president’s adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, also posted links to stories from conservative outlets focusing on Merchan’s daughter’s employment.
Asked about remarks Donald Trump and others made about Merchan and his family, a spokesperson for the state court system said Merchan has no comment.
Merchan’s daughter was listed during the 2020 election cycle as the president of Authentic Campaigns, a firm Vice President Kamala Harris used for digital fundraising and advertising during her presidential campaign. She was also listed as the president and a partner of Authentic Campaigns in a 2020 post on its website. Authentic Campaigns identifies itself as “a digital agency progressive can trust to get the job done right.”
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