Capitol Riot Judge Targeted In Swatting Incident

Bloomberg News reports:

In what law enforcement later described as a “swatting” incident, an unknown person had placed a call to an emergency services line pretending to be US District Judge Emmet Sullivan. The caller claimed a violent situation was unfolding at the judge’s home. Local police responded to the scene.

The following day, the US Marshals Service sent an email to all of the judges who serve in the federal courthouse in the nation’s capital describing the incident, offering tips to judges on how to stay safe, and noting a possible connection to the Jan. 6 case before Sullivan, according to a copy viewed by Bloomberg News.

The previously unreported incident illustrates the stakes of the rising threats that judges are facing in Washington as well as across the country.

Read the full article.

The email didn’t name the defendant who faced the judge for a change of plea the day after the swatting incident, but court records show only one plea before the judge that day — the far-right internet troll Tim Gionet, also known as “Baked Alaska” https://t.co/chnVZjf5Ff

— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) October 1, 2022

Threats against judges are up nationwide, and the Jan. 6 cases have posed particular security challenges for the DC federal court. The judiciary has urged Congress to pass a measure aimed at making it harder for bad actors to find judges’ personal info https://t.co/chnVZjxeTn

— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) October 1, 2022

The email to judges after the swatting incident ended with practical, and sobering, guidance for how to handle a similar situation — no sudden movements police could misinterpret as hostility, full cooperation even if it meant being handcuffed or searchedhttps://t.co/chnVZjf5Ff

— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) October 1, 2022