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Washington: The names and addresses of grand jury members involved in the Donald Trump election probe in Georgia have been leaked online, prompting police to investigate threats against them, the local sheriff’s office said.
“Our investigators are working closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to track down the origin of threats in Fulton County and other jurisdictions,” the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Thursday.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.Credit: AP
Posts on social media of the purported names and addresses of the Fulton County grand jury were tracked by Advance Democracy, a non-profit research organisation whose president, Dan Jones, is a former FBI investigator and staffer for the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The organisation also found posts employing violent rhetoric against Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who oversaw the more-than-two-year investigation of a suspected scheme by the former president and 18 others to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“Statements by Trump and his allies continue to inspire violent language and threats online,” Jones said.
“The latest threats against jury members shows you don’t have to be a politician or government official to be the target. It’s critical that the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office take this matter seriously.”
“Equally important is that political leaders on the right denounce these threats and the statements that inspire them.”
Fulton County contains Atlanta, Georgia’s largest city and capital.
Earlier this month, following an indictment by Special Counsel Jack Smith on Republican Trump’s efforts to overturn his election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump lashed out on his Truth Social platform, saying, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
The 98-page Georgia indictment listed 19 defendants and 41 criminal charges in all. Echoing his criticism of the other investigations he faces, Trump has called the charges a political “witch hunt”. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to run for president in the 2024 election.
“We take this matter very seriously and are coordinating with our law enforcement partners to respond quickly to any credible threat and to ensure the safety of those individuals who carried out their civic duty,” the sheriff’s office said.
An indictment in Georgia that is available as a public record includes the names of grand jurors but not their addresses or any other personally identifiable information.
A woman from Texas was charged earlier this month with threatening the federal judge overseeing Trump’s separate criminal case about the 2020 election in Washington.
Reports by Advance Democracy, which conducts public interest investigations, this week found posts by users on at least four social media sites targeting the grand jurors that “often included violent rhetoric”.
“These jurors have signed their death warrant by falsely indicting President Trump,” one report quoted a poster as saying.
Reuters
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