Rhode Island-based District Chief Judge John McConnell detailed on MS NOW the horrors he and his family have been put through for defying Trump.
McConnell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued an order blocking President Donald Trump's spending freeze last year. Since then, he and his family faced death threats, including a pizza delivered to his house bearing the name of a federal judge's son who was killed by a disgruntled gunman in 2020.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg, McConnell told anchor Nicolle Wallace.
"It's not an easy thing for any of us to come forward and talk about the personal threats," said McConnell. "It's also not an easy thing for us to come forward as judges because we do our work on the bench, but there is an unprecedented amount of personal attacks against judges, not just me, but all across the country. It's systematic, it's growing. It's severe."
This threat, he argued, is driven by "sustained efforts" of Trump administration officials, who have called judges "rogue insurrectionists, radicals, haters, unhinged lunatics, corrupt hacks."
"My story is not unique," he said — and it's horrific. "I received six or seven credible death threats. My daughter was doxed by Laura Loomer and then by Elon Musk. I had a picture of myself put on a wanted poster by a congressman. There have been two separate impeachment articles filed against me, and some of the death threats — one of the death threats was against my wife, certainly not a public figure."
This whole state of affairs, he warned, "is detrimental to our democracy as we know it. And if we don't stop it, if they don't stop it, if it doesn't get called out, our system of following the rule of law is going to end, and the independence of the judiciary is going to end."
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