Threats and Threatening Messages

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    Judges Worry Trump Could Tell U.S. Marshals to Stop Protecting Them

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    The marshals are in an increasingly bitter conflict between two branches of government, even as funding for judges’ security has failed to keep pace with a steady rise in threats.On March 11, about 50 judges gathered in Washington for the biannual meeting of the Judicial Conference, which oversees the administration of the federal courts. It was the first time the conference met since President Trump retook the White House.In the midst of discussions of staffing levels and long-range planning, the judges’ conversations were focused, to an unusual degree, on rising threats against judges and their security, said several people who attended the gathering.Behind closed doors at one session, Judge Richard J. Sullivan, the chairman of the conference’s Committee on Judicial Security, raised a scenario that weeks before would have sounded like dystopian fiction, according to three officials familiar with the remarks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations: What if the White House were to withdraw the protections it provides to judges?The U.S. Marshals Service, which by law oversees security for the judiciary, is part of the Justice Department, which Mr. Trump is directly controlling in a way that no president has since the Watergate scandal.Judge Sullivan noted that Mr. Trump had stripped security protections from Mike Pompeo, his former secretary of state, and John Bolton, his former national security adviser. Could the federal judiciary, also a recent target of Mr. Trump’s ire, be next?Judge Sullivan, who was nominated by President George W. Bush and then elevated to an appellate judgeship by Mr. Trump, referred questions about his closed-door remarks to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which stated its “complete confidence in those responsible for judicial security.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Pennsylvania Man Threatened to Kill Trump and Musk, U.S. Says

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      Shawn Monper, of Butler, Pa., also threatened immigration agents in comments on YouTube, federal prosecutors said.A Pennsylvania man was arrested this week after the authorities said he threatened to assassinate President Trump, Elon Musk and other government officials in comments that he posted on YouTube.Google, which owns YouTube, alerted the F.B.I. on Tuesday to the threatening comments, which were posted by someone using the username “Mr Satan,” whom the authorities later identified as Shawn Monper, of Butler, Pa., according to a criminal complaint.Mr. Monper, 32, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with four counts of influencing, impeding or retaliating against a federal official and a federal law enforcement officer.According to the court documents, Mr. Monper wrote, “im going to assassinate him myself” in the comments under a livestream of Mr. Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4.In a comment on another YouTube video on Feb. 17, according to the complaint, Mr. Monper wrote, “Nah, we just need to start killing people, Trump, Elon, all the heads of agencies Trump appointed, and anyone who stands in the way.”On Feb. 26, according to the complaint, Mr. Monper wrote that he had “bought several guns” and had been stocking up on ammunition since Mr. Trump took office for a second time, promising “to do a mass shooting.”Butler, Pa., where Mr. Monper lives, was the site of a campaign rally where Mr. Trump was injured in an assassination attempt on July 13. The complaint did not mention that episode.Mr. Monper’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.In addition to Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were also a target of Mr. Monper’s threats, federal prosecutors said.As the Trump administration has ramped up its deportation efforts, ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents have come under scrutiny for detaining students and legal immigrants.On Friday, an immigration judge in Louisiana found that the Trump administration could deport a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident, Mahmoud Khalil, for his role in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus last year.In a statement on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked the F.B.I. and the Butler Township police for their work on the investigation.“Rest assured that whenever and wherever threats of assassination or mass violence occur, this Department of Justice will find, arrest, and prosecute the suspect to the fullest extent of the law and seek the maximum appropriate punishment,” she said. More

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      China Accuses U.S. of Blackmail After Trump Threatens More Tariffs

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      The country’s commerce ministry called President Trump’s threat to escalate tariffs on China by another 50 percent “blackmail.”China lashed out at the United States on Tuesday after President Trump demanded that Beijing rescind its retaliatory tariffs or face an additional 50 percent U.S. levy, calling his threat “blackmail,” as tensions between the two major powers rose.The Ministry of Commerce, without referring to the American president by name, said that Beijing had noted that the United States had threatened to impose a further 50 percent tariff on China. It said that Beijing would take countermeasures to safeguard its interests.“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which once again exposes the blackmail nature of the United States,” the ministry’s statement said. “China will never accept it. If the United States insists on its own way, China will fight to the end.”China had announced last week that it would match Mr. Trump’s tariffs by imposing a retaliatory 34 percent tax on imports from America. The latest escalation that Mr. Trump described on Monday, if imposed, could bring the U.S. tariff on Chinese goods to 104 percent. For some products, though, the rate is likely to be much higher because of levies that date back to Mr. Trump’s first term. Mr. Trump also threatened to halt any further negotiations.American consumers last year bought $440 billion of goods from China, making it the second-largest source of U.S. imports after Mexico. Taken together, it could prove costly for American importers bringing in clothing, cellphones, chemicals and machinery from China.China said that the United States should cancel all unilateral tariffs against China, “stop suppressing China’s economy and trade, and properly resolve differences with China through equal dialogue on the basis of mutual respect.”China has been trying for months to engage in high-level talks with the Trump administration to try to lay the ground for a potential summit between Mr. Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. But despite Mr. Trump saying earlier this year that he was open to engaging with Mr. Xi, Beijing has struggled to receive much of a response from the White House.Berry Wang More

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      Springfield, Ohio, Sues Neo-Nazi Group, Saying It Intimidated Haitians

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      In the lawsuit, the city states that people associated with the group made death threats last year against those who expressed support for Haitian residents.The city of Springfield, Ohio, which was singled out by Donald J. Trump and JD Vance during the presidential campaign with false and outrageous claims about Haitian immigrants, has sued a neo-Nazi group that helped draw national attention to the small city in the first place.The suit, filed in federal court on Thursday, was brought by the mayor, Rob Rue, along with several city commissioners and Springfield residents. It says that Blood Tribe, a four-year-old neo-Nazi group, began a campaign of intimidation focused on Haitian immigrants in the city. It culminated last summer in “a torrent of hateful conduct, including acts of harassment, bomb threats and death threats” against locals who spoke in support of the Haitian residents.The plaintiffs cite the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which makes it a crime to deny individuals their civil rights, and accuses Blood Tribe of ethnic intimidation and inciting violence. With the legal support of the Anti-Defamation League, the plaintiffs are seeking punitive damages and compensation for the thousands of dollars spent on extra security as Blood Tribe’s campaign unfolded.The suit does not mention Mr. Trump, who falsely claimed at a presidential debate in September that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating dogs and cats, nor Mr. Vance, who urged his “fellow patriots” to “keep the cat memes flowing.” But the suit says that Christopher Pohlhaus, the leader of Blood Tribe, “gleefully took credit for the growing notoriety” of the false claims about Haitians in the city, “bragging on social media that the Blood Tribe had ‘pushed Springfield into the public consciousness.’”The suit did not name a lawyer for Mr. Pohlhaus, who could not be reached for comment.In recent years, between 10,000 and 20,000 Haitians had come to Springfield, a city of about 60,000 in southwestern Ohio, attracted by the substantial labor needs of the warehouses and manufacturing businesses in the area. While “the vast majority” of the Haitians are in the country lawfully and were “welcomed” by the city, the suit says, the arrival of so many newcomers in such a short time brought a range of challenges, putting serious demand on local hospitals, schools and housing.In posts on its social media accounts last July, Blood Tribe called the arrival of large numbers of Haitians an “act of demographic warfare,” that had “caused a significant strain on the good White residents of the city.” The suit charges that Blood Tribe members, who were masked, armed and brandishing swastikas, gathered at a local jazz festival and later outside the mayor’s home. It adds that the group spread the personal information of people who supported the Haitian community, in some cases putting home addresses on websites that drew men looking for drugs or sex.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Barricades and Bulletproof Glass: A County Prepares for Election Day

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      With the specter of political violence looming, the Department of Homeland Security has advised hundreds of communities on election safety. Luzerne County, Pa., is at the center of the unrest.With northeastern Pennsylvania awash again in the reds and oranges of a dazzling autumn, workers recently planted boulders around a government building in downtown Wilkes-Barre to address a seasonal ugliness. But this was no beautification project.Luzerne County is bracing for Election Day.Across the country, the doubts and anger ginned up by the spurious election-fraud claims of former President Donald J. Trump have unsettled the once-routine civic task of collecting and counting votes. With the specter of political violence looming, the Department of Homeland Security has advised hundreds of concerned communities on election safety.At the center of this maelstrom of distrust is Luzerne County, which, for some, has become Exhibit A for election conspiracy theories. Unnerved by local chatter, county officials have implemented several extraordinary security measures — including a primitive fortification of large rocks around the county building in Wilkes-Barre where the Bureau of Elections is located.The boulder installation in this swing-state city of 45,000 could serve as a metaphor for the United States of 2024, in which planning for the sacred exercise of democracy might include preparing for a car bomb.“We’re a microcosm,” said the county manager, Romilda Crocamo, the recipient of repeated threats. The most recent one, serious enough that she alerted law enforcement, was delivered by text to a close relative who is very private and not involved in politics.“Somebody had to go through a lot of effort to make that connection,” Ms. Crocamo said.Emily Cook, the director of the county’s Bureau of Elections, has also been threatened, both on social media and in person. “People say that I deserved to be executed,” she said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump aumenta las amenazas a sus adversarios

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      Nunca un candidato presidencial había sugerido utilizar el ejército contra los estadounidenses simplemente porque se oponen a su candidatura.A tres semanas del día de las elecciones, el expresidente Donald Trump está poniendo en el centro de su campaña una amenaza política: que usaría el poder de la presidencia para aplastar a quienes no estén de acuerdo con él.En una entrevista el domingo con Fox News, Trump calificó a los demócratas de pernicioso “enemigo interno” que provocaría un caos el día de las elecciones que, según especuló, la Guardia Nacional podría tener que controlar.Un día después, cerró sus declaraciones ante una multitud en un evento que se anunció como una tertulia electoral en Pensilvania con un duro mensaje sobre sus oponentes políticos.“Son malos y, francamente, malvados”, dijo Trump. “Son malvados. Lo que han hecho, lo han convertido en un arma, han convertido nuestras elecciones en un arma. Han hecho cosas que nadie pensaba que fueran posibles”.Y el martes, una vez más se negó a comprometerse a una transferencia pacífica del poder cuando fue presionado por un entrevistador en un foro económico en Chicago.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Escalates Threats to Political Opponents He Deems the ‘Enemy’

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      Never before has a presidential nominee openly suggested turning the military on Americans simply because they oppose his candidacy. With voting underway, Donald Trump has turned to dark vows of retribution.With three weeks left before Election Day, former President Donald J. Trump is pushing to the forefront of his campaign a menacing political threat: that he would use the power of the presidency to crush those who disagree with him.In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Mr. Trump framed Democrats as a pernicious “enemy from within” that would cause chaos on Election Day that he speculated the National Guard might need to handle.A day later, he closed his remarks to a crowd at what was billed as a town hall in Pennsylvania with a stark message about his political opponents.“They are so bad and frankly, they’re evil,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re evil. What they’ve done, they’ve weaponized, they’ve weaponized our elections. They’ve done things that nobody thought was even possible.”And on Tuesday, he once again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when pressed by an interviewer at an economic forum in Chicago.With early voting underway in key battlegrounds, the race for the White House is moving toward Election Day in an extraordinary and sobering fashion. Mr. Trump has long flirted with, if not openly endorsed, anti-democratic tendencies with his continued refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election, embrace of conspiracy theories of large-scale voter fraud and accusations that the justice system is being weaponized against him. He has praised leaders including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary for being authoritarian strongmen.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Antisemitic Incidents Reach New High in the U.S., Report Finds

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      The Anti-Defamation League has found that cases of antisemitism have surged in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel last year.The number of antisemitic episodes in the United States surged to the highest recorded in a one-year period in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel last year, the Anti-Defamation League said on Sunday.The new figures — covering Oct. 7, 2023, to Sept. 24 — were about triple the number of cases reported to the organization during the same period a year before, the A.D.L., a civil rights organization, said in a statement.The group identified more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents, which were split into categories such as verbal or written harassment, vandalism and physical assault. The largest number of cases — 8,015 — fell under verbal or written harassment, according to the figures.Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the A.D.L., said Oct. 7 would be “one year since the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”“From that day on, Jewish Americans haven’t had a single moment of respite,” he said, adding that instead “we’ve faced a shocking number of antisemitic threats and experienced calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”The organization has been tracking cases of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault in the United States since 1979 and publishes its research in an annual report.The group said it recorded “an unprecedented total number” of 8,873 antisemitic incidents in 2022, a 140 percent increase from the previous year.Its latest report is the fourth time in six years that the A.D.L. has said it inventoried a record-high count of antisemitic episodes.The states with the highest number of recorded cases in the most recent report were California (1,266), New York (1,218), New Jersey (830), Florida (463) and Massachusetts (440).The antisemitic incidents have increased since Hamas attacked Israel last year and the war became a heated issue on American college campuses, where numerous protests have taken place.The report noted that at least 922 episodes had taken place on college and university campuses. During the same period a year earlier, the organization had recorded nearly 200 cases on campuses.The A.D.L. also said that the number of bomb threats made to Jewish institutions such as synagogues had soared from its previous report to 1,000, from 81.In addition, the group said, its preliminary research found that more than 3,000 of the antisemitic incidents had occurred during anti-Israel rallies in public spaces, such as parks and streets.The A.D.L., which was founded in 1913, said it used the research to create and improve programs to counter and prevent the spread of antisemitism and bigotry.The organization said that it expected its preliminary figures to increase as it received more reports. Final data for 2024 will be published in the spring of 2025. More

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      A Cryptic Letter With a Clear Warning

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      A domestic terrorist group sent a note to The New York Times admitting to detonating a bomb in Queens.Nearly 50 years ago, on Jan. 29, 1975, a bomb exploded inside the State Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., damaging the building but causing no injuries. A bomb was discovered that same day at a federal office building in Oakland, Calif., and was safely detonated.The acts were part of a spree of violence by a far-left militant group, Weather Underground, a splinter group of the Students for a Democratic Society, which opposed the Vietnam War. (The group took its name from lyrics written by Bob Dylan — “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” — in the song “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”) In a manifesto, the Weather Underground called for “the destruction of U.S. imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism.”In late 1970, about a year after the group’s formation, The New York Times received a cryptic letter dated Oct. 9. Painted across the note was a red, five-pointed star, a symbol for Communism. The letter was signed in large cursive letters: Weatherman.That letter is currently stored in the “morgue,” The Times’s vast clippings archive.The letter makes reference to “slave ships of the twentieth century” and says that “with rallies and riots, with marches and Molotovs, kids in New York City and around the country will continue the battle.”Most startling is that the group claimed credit for an attack in Queens: “Last night as part of an international conspiracy we blew up the Long Island City Criminal Courthouse,” the letter reads. The explosion, which occurred on the third floor, heavily damaged the interior of the gray stone building.The group would ultimately claim responsibility for more than 25 bombings, according to the F.B.I., including at the Capitol building in March 1971. The group eventually splintered as the Vietnam War came to an end, disbanding in the late ’70s.In a 2020 guest essay for Times Opinion, Mark Rudd, a community organizer who once belonged to the Weather Underground, described his time with the group. “We didn’t realize that the violence we claimed we hated had infected our souls,” he wrote. “At the time, I’m not sure we’d have cared.” More