Apparent ‘swatting’ incident targets judge in Trump election case
Police officers and emergency responders were dispatched Sunday evening to the Washington home of the federal judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s election interference case in what appeared to be an incident of “swatting,” according to three people familiar with the matter.
Police and fire vehicles responded to a report of a shooting at the home of the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, who handled the criminal case accusing Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, they said the people. According to an incident report released by Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, which did not name Judge Chutkan, officers “were told she was not injured and that no one was in her home” when they arrived at the home around 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Swatting is the colloquial term for filing false reports to the police to provoke a threatening or potentially dangerous response from officers. Incidents of swatting have become increasingly common in recent years and have been used against various politicians and public figures.
It was unclear who told police that a shooting had occurred, and there was no way to determine whether the episode was related to Judge Chutkan’s handling of Mr. Trump’s criminal case or to any of the cases she provided guidance in connection with the attack on Trump’s criminal case. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on January 6, 2021.
The incident occurred a day after the third anniversary of January 6 and two days before a crucial appeals court hearing on Mr. Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution in the case because the charges arose from actions he undertook while in prison. White House.
In July 2022, another federal judge in Washington, Emmet G. Sullivan, also had police called to his home in what appeared to be a swatting incident. That episode took place the night before Judge Sullivan was set to preside over a hearing in which Anthime Gionet, a far-right activist nicknamed “Baked Alaska,” was set to plead guilty in connection with the attack on the Capitol.
Judge Chutkan has faced threats in the past related to her work on Mr. Trump’s criminal case, which is in Federal District Court in Washington.
In August, just days after Trump was indicted, a woman left a voicemail message for Black Judge Chutkan in her chambers in Washington, making racist comments and threatening to kill her.
“If Trump is not elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so be careful,” the woman said in the message, adding: “You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, everything.”
The message for Judge Chutkan was left just one day after Trump posted his own threatening, if cryptic, statement on social media. “If you come after me, I’ll come after you!” He wrote. (His campaign later said his words were not directed at anyone involved in the election interference case.)
A Texas woman, Abigail Jo Shry, was eventually arrested and faces charges there.
In September, prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the federal cases against Mr. Trump, included Ms. Shry’s threats in their request for Judge Chutkan to impose a silence order on the former president. Prosecutors cited several instances in which Trump verbally attacked people involved in the cases he faced, arguing that his comments online often had real-world consequences.
Judge Chutkan ultimately imposed the gag order but allowed Mr. Trump to say what he liked about her. A federal appeals court later upheld the order but limited its terms so that Mr. Trump, among others, could also attack Mr. Smith.
Charlie Savage reporting contributed.