Man charged in death threats to Trump trial judge, prosecutor
A man in Las Vegas has been charged with threatening to assault and kill federal officials, judges and state employees across several states, according to a federal indictment, including at least two people involved in the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
The man, Spencer Gear, 32, was charged with 10 counts of threatening a federal official and 12 counts of transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure. Gear was taken into federal custody Tuesday after pleading not guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
In a detention order signed Thursday, Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler cited a recording of a telephone message on June 3, “which was directed at a judge and a district attorney,” referred to in the indictment as A.B. and J.M., the initials of Alvin Bragg, the lead prosecutor, and Juan Merchan, the presiding judge in Trump’s hush-money trial in New York.
Weksler said the language in the message was “of great concern to the court.”
The message was left on the Monday after a jury found Trump guilty of all 34 charges in an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 election through a payment to silence a porn actress who said the two had sex.
Trump’s lawyers have asked Merchan to overturn the verdict, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision granting him immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
His lawyers have argued that the ruling, which gave the former president broad immunity for official actions taken while in the White House, invalidated at least some of the evidence presented in Manhattan, including the testimony of former White House staff members and social media posts that Trump made as president. The judge said that he would rule in September.
Weksler noted that Gear’s threatening phone messages for Bragg and Merchan were among a dozen such calls made even after the FBI warned him that the First Amendment did not protect this type of speech.
Gear, Weksler added, did “not seem to have respect for the judicial system and for judges, which indicates that he will not follow any conditions of release that might be imposed.”
Between Nov. 30, 2023, and July 7, Gear made threatening phone calls and sent an email containing threats to assault and murder eight federal officials, according to the indictment.
Gear also threatened state employees, prosecutors said. The Justice Department identified the targeted officials only by their initials but said they were federal judges and employees in Washington, D.C., Montana, New York and New Jersey.
Neither prosecutors nor court records explained in detail why Gear selected the targets of his threats.
Gear had the intent, prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday, “to impede, intimidate and interfere with the officials while engaged in the performance of official duties,” and also to “retaliate against the officials on account of the performance of official duties.”
The lead federal prosecutor in Gear’s case, Jacob Operskalski, said Saturday that he was not authorized to comment. But during his bail hearing, Operskalski described the barrage of threats as “reminiscent of the Holocaust as he dehumanizes his victims, calling them filth, calling them trash,” Politico reported.
If convicted, Gear could face up to 10 years for each count of threatening federal officials, and five years for each count of sending threatening communications.
“The FBI will not tolerate individuals who threaten government officials for doing their jobs and who create a climate of fear,” Robert Wells, the executive assistant director of the FBI National Security Branch, said in the statement.
During Gear’s arraignment, a defense lawyer, Jeremy Baron, said that there was no indication that Gear had taken any steps to carry out the threats, Politico reported.
Baron and Rebecca Levy, another federal public defender representing Gear, did not respond to messages seeking comment Saturday. His trial is set for Sept. 24.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.