Donald Trump Jr. sparked outrage on Tuesday for targeting the daughter of the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s New York hush money case.
“Because nothing says ‘innocent’ like threatening a judge’s family,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted.
“Let’s be very clear: intimidation and stochastic terror are the core tools of Trump and the fascist movements that support him. They rely on it to skirt consequence and silence others – and each time it works, they grow more brazen. One reason why accountability is so important.”
On Truth Social and Twitter, Trump Jr. had shared a link to an article by the right-wing website Breitbart that prominently featured an image of Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter. The outlet reported that Merchan’s daughter worked for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign during the 2019 presidential primaries and headed a digital agency that runs campaigns for progressive candidates, including the Biden-Harris campaign.
Donald Trump and his two eldest sons sought to paint that information as evidence of Merchan’s corruption and bias against the indicted former president, as did many of their supporters on social media. Eric Trump had also written a similar tweet, but it later disappeared from Twitter.
“Seems relevant… yet another connection in this hand picked democrat show trial. The BS never ends folks,” Trump Jr. wrote, also quoting the title of the article: “Daughter of Judge on Trump Case Worked on Biden-Harris Campaign.”
Eric Trump had reportedly complained in his since-removed tweet that “They are all hand-picked. It is all pre-arranged. This corruption is on a different level.”
In an all-caps Truth Social screed, Donald Trump accused Merchan of being “highly partisan” from a family of “well known Trump haters.”
The former president surrendered at the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday afternoon, where he was arrested. He faces 34 felony charges that he falsified business records to hide $130,000 in hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign to keep Daniels from coming forward about an alleged affair.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) also weighed in on Trump Jr.’s post about the judge’s daughter, writing: “Make no mistake, Donald Trump is trying to prevent the legal system from pursuing accountability by inciting violence and spreading misinformation.”
Legal and law enforcement experts raised concerns as well. Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant director of the FBI, said the post “contributes to the risk and threat picture and is an indicator of the threat strategy we’re likely to see moving forward.”
Several conservative figures also denounced the move, including Lincoln Project adviser Jeff Timmer, Republican political consultant Frank Luntz, former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois and conservative attorney George Conway.
During Trump’s arraignment, Merchan warned him not to use social media to incite violence. Trump has written threatening social media posts in the weeks leading up to his indictment, spreading conspiracy theories about the process and attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
