NBC News reports:
False reports about the jury instructions in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial have been spreading across right-wing media, leading to threats against the judge overseeing the case. Several conservative news personalities, including some affiliated with Fox News, falsely claimed that Judge Juan Merchan, as one Fox News anchor put it in a viral post on X, “told the jury that they do not need unanimity to convict” Trump.
One user on Gab, a site popular with far-right extremists, said Wednesday it was “time to find out where that judge lives and protest as the left calls it.” Another user posted: “I hear bad stuff happens to judges in their driveways.” On Telegram, one user called for “a military tribunal” for Merchan and on the official Telegram channel of Steve Bannon’s WarRoom, a user said Merchan “and all involved” should be hanged.
Read the full article. There’s more examples.
Judge Merchan just told the jury that they do not need unanimity to convict. 4 could agree on one crime, 4 on a different one, and the other 4 on another. He said he would treat 4-4-4 as a unanimous verdict.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 29, 2024
False reports about the jury instructions in former President Trump’s New York hush money trial have led to online threats against Judge Juan Merchan. https://t.co/jnN52R0YGq
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 30, 2024