The FBI is investigating death threats made against Colorado Supreme Court Justices who this week ruled Trump could not appear on the state primary ballot.
The judges have been the targets of vicious online threats since the vote, with law enforcement officials saying they are investigating aggressive telephone and social media messages.
Messages posted online have been violent with one reading: ‘This ends when we kill these f–kers’. Another read: ‘What do you call 7 justices from the Colorado Supreme Court at the bottom of the ocean?’ with the response: ‘A good start.’
The threats follow the court’s 4-3 ruling to ban Trump from the state primary ballot under a law that prevents ‘insurrectionists’ from holding high office after it found that Trump had participated in an ‘insurrection’ on January 6.
Now, the FBI is ‘aware of the situation and working with local law enforcement,’ according to Vikki Migoya, a public affairs officer for the FBI’s Denver field office.
A nonpartisan group has compiled online threats that have been pouring in against justices on the Colorado Supreme Court, which ruled Trump is disqualified from the state’s primary ballot under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution
Migoya told the Washington Post: ‘We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation.’
Officers even went to one of the justice’s houses on Thursday evening following what appears to have been a ‘hoax report,’ according to the Denver Police Department.
They added everything seemed normal at the residence, but they are now investigating the incident.
The angry online threats have been compiled by the non-partisan group Advance Democracy, which is tracking the sudden burst of threats against the normally obscure jurists, NBC News reported.
It came after dissenting judges warned it could cause ‘chaos’ and the state Republican Party vowed to try to switch to a caucus system if Trump is not ultimately allowed back on the ballot. The Trump campaign is hurrying an appeal for the U.S. Supreme Court, which is already being asked to weigh in on a separate criminal Trump prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
‘We are seeing significant violent language and threats being made against the Colorado justices and others perceived to be behind yesterday’s Colorado Supreme Court ruling,’ said Daniel J. Jones, president of the group, calling the normalization of such rhetoric cause for ‘significant concern.’
Trump himself has railed against the ruling in a written statement, and reposted a quote by his lawyer Alina Habba saying rivals use ‘corrupt methods’ to ‘cheat and steal,’ with plans to battle the ruling in the courthouse.
He also reposted a post on his Truth Social site that had images of the four justices who ruled in the majority. The post called them ‘Communist thugs Democrats dressed up as Justices in Colorado.’
Trump also ‘retruthed’ a post about a ‘SMALL GROUP OF TREASONOUS TRAITORS PLUS SOROS’ that went on to ask ‘HOW MANY AMERICANS ARE THERE!!’
Former President Donald Trump has blasted the ruling and is readying an appeal to the Supreme Court
President Joe Biden declined to get into the court’s decision, but called it ‘self evident’ that Trump engaged in insurrection, a key factor in Tuesday’s ruling
It included a list of Trump’s perceived enemies, including Special Counsel Jack Smith, along with prosecutors, judges and other figures.
The online threats against the Colorado justices are just the latest in a season where ordinarily relatively obscure figures in the judicial system have been bombarded with threats as the courts weigh high stakes legal matters involving Trump.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has been overseeing the January 6 case, has been the recipient of racist threats.
After Trump attacked the top clerk of New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, she was the recipient hundreds of ‘serious and credible’ threats, according to a New York court official. That included calling her ‘treasonous’ and a ‘snake’ and saying she ‘should be killed.’
Trump himself backed off attacks on the clerk after getting a gag order and being fined. He is under scrutiny for some of his public rhetoric, however, after calling political enemies ‘vermin’ and saying illegal migrants are ‘poisoning the blood’ of the nation, prompting the Joe Biden campaign to compare the statements to fascist rhetoric of the past.