'Trump continues to be a danger': Legal expert explains harms of ex-president's attacks

Donald Trump's recent Thanksgiving attacks on court staff show just how much damage he can do, a former prosecutor said on Friday.

Joyce Vance, the former federal prosecutor who recently said she doesn't anticipate Donald Trump will do well before the panel of Washington, D.C., judges as he appeals the gag order issued in one of his four top cases, said Friday that "the former guy" had intruded upon her holiday plans.

"My idea of a vacation would be a long weekend where Donald Trump didn’t threaten a federal prosecutor, a judge’s law clerk, or democracy itself," Vance wrote on her Substack newsletter. "But we are not there yet. I hope we will be there, or close, by this time next year. But now is not the moment to ignore Donald Trump’s rants and threats."

Vance further added in the Thanksgiving-themed post that "it’s easy for people to push him aside as a crazy uncle, not as the serious threat he is to the future of our country."

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"This Thanksgiving was no exception. Trump attacked Judge Arthur Engoron’s law clerk, on whom he’s had some sort of weird laser focus ever since he posted a picture of her with New York Senator Chuck Schumer on his 'Truth Social' feed, insinuating that they were in some sort of relationship—which was a lie—leading to the Judge’s gag order on Trump. But it wasn’t just the clerk, Allison Greenfield. Trump went all in, using language that anyone who understands how he operates knows is inflammatory, if not targeting, towards New York’s Attorney General Letitia James, Judge Engoron, and President Biden. And that’s just one post."

Vance further concludes:

"So happy Thanksgiving from your past and wannabe future president. We cannot say it loudly enough or frequently enough: Trump continues to be a danger to us. Anyone who doesn’t understand that they or someone they love, their children or grandchildren, could be the next one subjected to the treatment Judge Engoron’s law clerk is receiving, or that Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were subjected to, isn’t paying attention. There are very real risks. We've seen enough. Now it’s time to get to work and make sure Trump never holds public office again."