A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict a woman accused of threatening President Donald Trump on social media, another sign of pushback from D.C. residents over the use of federal law enforcement and deployment of National Guard troops in the city.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia accused Nathalie Rose Jones of Indiana of threatening to take the life of the president and transmitting threats over state lines on Instagram and Facebook.
Jones allegedly called Trump a “terrorist” and a “Nazi” in a voluntary interview with the Secret Service. She attended a march in Washington on Aug. 16 that went around the White House complex and was then arrested, though she said she had no desire at that time to harm Trump. Friends wrote in letters to the court that Jones has had mental health issues.
In a motion filed Monday, Jones' attorneys disclosed that a grand jury didn’t indict her.
“A grand jury has now found no probable cause to indict Ms. Jones on the charged offenses,” her federal public defenders wrote, seeking to get Jones released on her own recognizance.
Overruling a magistrate judge, Chief District Judge James Boasberg had ordered Jones released on home detention.
It is rare for a federal grand jury to decline to indict, but it's become an emerging trend in Washington amid Trump's federal crackdown, with grand juries made up of local residents declining to indict at least six times in recent weeks.
Posted by John3262005
2 Comments
To be clear, it is 100% legal to threaten to use a grenade launcher on the the book repository where the Presidents Motorcade is going to go by at 3pm on Saturday, it is only illegal to then purchase the grenade launcher.
Free Speech means you can’t just fucking arrest people for threatening somebody on twitter, unless their actual acts brought with it.
What did they expect out of a city that votes 95% blue 😭
12 Angry Men but Lib and it ends instantly cause they all want to stick it to Drumpf