Chainkeen|Vegas man charged with threats to officials including judge, prosecutor in Trump hush money trial

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas man has been charged with threatening to injure and Chainkeenkill government officials in three states and the District of Columbia, including the New York judge and prosecutor who handled former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial, according to federal officials and court records.

Spencer Gear, 32, was being held Friday in federal custody in Nevada following his arrest and not guilty plea Tuesday to 22 felony charges of threatening a federal official and transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure. Gear’s indictment had been filed under seal July 16.

Rebecca Levy, a federal public defender representing Gear in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, did not respond Friday to messages seeking comment.

The indictment lists 11 alleged victims by initials, including two in a phone call from Nevada to New York that “threatened to kill A.B. and J.M.,” referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Judge Juan M. Merchan.

Bragg’s office declined to comment. A message was left for a spokesperson for New York’s state court system.

In her order remanding Gear to federal custody ahead of trial, U.S. Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler cited “the number of calls at play in this case,” with victims also in New Jersey and Montana.

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The judge focused on a recording of a June 3 telephone message “which was directed at a judge and a district attorney” and called the language Gear allegedly used “of great concern to the court.”

That date was the Monday after a jury found Trump guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. Trump’s lawyers have since asked Merchan to overturn the verdict, citing the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision. The judge said he’ll rule in September.

Weksler noted that Gear had little prior criminal history, noting two driving-related offenses, but had been charged by federal authorities with resisting arrest last week.

“The defendant does not seem to have respect for the judicial system and for judges,” the magistrate judge said. Trial is scheduled Sept. 24.

Bragg’s office, which prosecuted Trump’s hush money criminal case, reported at least 56 “actionable threats” directed against Bragg, his family and staff, and nearly 500 threatening emails and phone calls since April.

They included bomb threats at the homes of two people involved in the case on the first day of the Trump trial, April 15; a photo showing sniper sights aimed on people involved in the case, according to police; and threatening messages such as: “we will kill you all” and “Your life is done.”

In 2023, police recorded 89 threats to Bragg, his family or staff, up from one threat in 2022, his first year in office.

The wave of threats this year started March 18, according to an affidavit by the head of Bragg’s police detail, the day Trump falsely posted online that he was about to be arrested and encouraged supporters to protest and “take our nation back!”

A few days later, Bragg’s office received a letter containing a small amount of white powder and a note stating, “Alvin: I’m going to kill you.”

Court officials have said Merchan has also received dozens of death threats.

Following Trump’s April 2023 arraignment, a state court spokesperson said Merchan’s chambers had been “getting the predictable harassing and defamatory calls and emails.”

In April, a 26-year-old New York man was charged with sending text messages threatening New York state Attorney General Letitia James and the judge in Trump’s civil fraud case, Arthur Engoron, with “death and physical harm” if they did not “cease action” in the Trump matter.

In August 2023, FBI agents killed an armed Utah man who was suspected of making threats against Bragg, Garland, James and President Joe Biden. Family members of Craig Deleeuw Robertson, who was killed by agents as they tried to serve a warrant at his home in Provo, Utah, described him as a gun enthusiast who was worried about “a corrupt and overreaching government.”

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Sisak reported from New York.