ATLANTA — The purported names and addresses of members of the grand jury that indicted Donald Trump and 18 of his co-defendants on state racketeering charges this week have been posted on a fringe website that often features violent rhetoric, NBC News has learned.
NBC News is choosing not to name the website featuring the addresses to avoid further spreading the information.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment. District Attorney Fani Willis faced racist threats ahead of the return of the indictment, and additional security measures were put in place, with some employees being allowed to work from home.
The grand jurors' purported addresses were spotted by Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan research group founded by Daniel J. Jones, a former FBI investigator and staffer for the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee.
“It’s becoming all too commonplace to see everyday citizens performing necessary functions for our democracy being targeted with violent threats by Trump-supporting extremists," Jones said. "The lack of political leadership on the right to denounce these threats — which serve to inspire real-world political violence — is shameful.”
Advance Democracy also noted that users were posting the names and images of people believed to have been grand jurors on other social media sites. The posts asserted that the jurors had posted on social media in support of Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., former President Barack Obama and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The indictment issued Monday lists the names of the grand jury members but not their addresses or other personal information.
Tuesday — after Trump posted on his social media website that authorities were going "after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!" — Advance Democracy said Trump supporters were "using the term ‘rigger’ in lieu of a racial slur" in posts.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office, which is handling the surrender of Trump and his co-defendants over the next 10 days, declined to comment.
“We are not commenting on any issues related to grand jury security," said Natalie Ammons, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The grand jurors have come under attack in the days since Trump's indictment, the fourth criminal indictment brought against the twice-impeached former president.
“These jurors have signed their death warrant by falsely indicting President Trump," a post on a pro-Trump forum read in response to a post including the names of jurors, which was viewed by NBC News.
Blayne Alexander reported from Atlanta and Reilly from Washington.
internetbrowser23 on August 16th, 2023 at 19:51 UTC »
How the fuck does this dude still have bail? Hes openly encouraging supporters to threaten and attack witnesses, jurors and judges. What the actual fuck?
1900grs on August 16th, 2023 at 19:34 UTC »
So, will the courts be going after them for witness tampering/intimidation?
The_Navy_Sox on August 16th, 2023 at 19:30 UTC »
Going to be hell for all the jurors and prosecutors and their families. Non stop death threats probably for the rest of their lives.