With concerns spreading about possibilities for the kinds of harassment and threats that have already targeted others tied to the case, Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is asking for proactive protections for those considered for the jury in the criminal case she brought against former President Donald Trump and others. She wants a formal block on the distribution of images — in multiple forms — of the prospective jurors, in addition to a block on publicizing variously relevant details that could assist with their identification.
Those who have already been targeted by trolls and threats in tandem with this case range from Willis herself to members of the jury that approved the indictment of Trump. As is routine but disputed, their names were made public. Trump himself has often spoken in very personal terms against opponents of his in the context of various criminal investigations, charges, and cases that he has faced, fueling concerns about his comments potentially driving even violent action, like was seen around and inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Accompanying Willis’s push this week for early protective action for jurors was a sworn statement from a member of her team, Gerald Walsh. Walsh said that evidently identifying details that related to the district attorney and the jury that approved the indictment and that could assist in carrying out a threat were publicized on what’s known as the dark web, an information-sharing system not accessible to regular internet users but utilized for criminal activity.
Willis also referenced the threats that she and members of her team have already faced in a letter she sent this week to House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Jordan had pushed for insider details from Willis’s underlying investigation, which Willis mostly rebuffed. In her response letter going after the Republican’s demands, Willis discussed the threats already seen in the context of the areas where Congress could undertake substantively impactful work — in contrast to what Willis characterized as the attempts from Jordan at what would amount to illegal interference with her investigation.
