'Bad stuff happens': Judge Merchan faces hanging threats linked to Trump misinformation

ALSO READ: MAGA exodus support group soars as Trump devotees walk away: 'One lie too many'

'Bad stuff happens': Judge Merchan faces hanging threats linked to Trump misinformation
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan in 2011.. - Marc A. Hermann/New York Daily News/TNS

New York Justice Juan Merchan reportedly received death threats after misinformation about the hush money trial was spread by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

NBC News reported multiple conservative news organizations had repeated a false suggestion that the jury verdict did not have to be unanimous in Trump's case.

One Fox News analyst sent a viral message on social media, saying the judge "told the jury that they do not need unanimity to convict" Trump.

"That's not true," NBC's Ryan J. Reilly wrote. "[J]urors have to agree unanimously that Trump committed a crime by engaging in a criminal conspiracy to falsify records with the intent to commit one or more other crimes in order to convict him."

However, jurors were given three options as to what the underlying crime could be.

ALSO READ: Five questions you must ask yourself before voting in November

NBC noted that one Gab user responded to the false claims by writing," [It's] time to find out where that judge lives and protest as the left calls it."

"I hear bad stuff happens to judges in their driveways," another user wrote.

A Telegram user suggested a "military tribunal" for the judge.

"[A]nd on the official Telegram channel of Steve Bannon's WarRoom, a user said Merchan 'and all involved' should be hanged," Reilly reported. Another pro-Trump forum also called for Merchan's hanging.

"Merchan wants to be the merchant of death to sell more rope, except he could easily be selling the rope that hangs him," the user said.

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'I thought it was a joke': Mockery as Iran talks collapse while Trump booed at UFC event

The internet was stunned on Saturday night after Vice President JD Vance announced that talks had failed between Iran and the United States — all while President Donald Trump and his family attended a UFC event in Miami.

Trump walked into the arena and was booed by the crowd while Kid Rock blared, just as Vance had publicly acknowledged the conversation between the Iranian and American diplomatic teams had not reached an agreement despite the 21 hours of marathon talking.

People didn't hold back from sharing their thoughts on social media:

"I guess all the Iran experts had to be at the UFC?" Writer and essayist Hari Kunzru wrote on Bluesky.

"When I heard that Trump was at a UFC fight tonight while Vance was trying to hammer out the Iran deal at four in the morning, Iran time, I thought it was a joke," writer Mary Pezzulo wrote on Bluesky.

"How the f--- is the president and Secretary of State at a UFC fight in Miami while war negotiations affecting the world economy are falling apart. And I know that MF-- isn’t going to try to play golf tomorrow too," Ron Filipkowski, Editor in Chief of MeidasNews, wrote on Bluesky.

"These 2 pics are happening simultaneously: LEFT: Vance after he fails to secure permanent ceasefire to the illegal war Trump launched. RIGHT: Trump attends UFC fight 5 days after threatening genocide of 90M people. This is what happens when you elect a genocidal fascist and an unqualified sycophant," Qasim Rashid, human rights lawyer, wrote on Bluesky.

"He clearly just wants to run the UFC, not the country. Someone should find a way to make that happen," Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, founder of The Gaia Leadership Project & The Ripple Effect Institute, wrote on Bluesky.

"There was never a framework for a deal. I heard someone say, 'Not only does Iran have the cards, but they hold a strait.' Another Trump failure," writer and editor Stephen Simpson wrote on X.

"The Strait was open. Trump started an unprovoked, unauthorized war, and now the enemy controls the Strait, and won’t give it back," liberal political commentator Marlene Johnson wrote on X.

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Trump booed at UFC event as Vance announces Iran negotiations have failed

President Donald Trump was booed while entering a UFC event on Saturday night with his family walking behind him, just as news broke that negotiations between the United States and Iran had failed.

Vice President JD Vance announced the negotiations had stalled without reaching any agreement over the ongoing war during a speech in Islamabad, Pakistan, while Trump was walking next to Dana White at UFC 327 in Miami.

"The bad news is we have not reached an agreement," Vance said. "I think that's bad news for Iran, much more than it is for the United States of America. So we go back to the United States having not made an agreement. We've made very clear what our red lines are, what things we're willing to accommodate them on and what things we're not willing to accommodate them on, and we've made that as clear as we possibly could and they've chosen not to accept our terms."

Trump has not yet commented on the negotiations and Vance's recent update.

'A fundamental blow': Vance delivers major update in negotiations with Iran

Vice President JD Vance delivered an update about negotiations with Iran as reporters pressed him about why the talks were stalled — and what might come next.

Vance spoke from Islamabad, Pakistan, early Sunday local time, thanking the leaders of the country for bringing the trilateral negotiations together between the U.S. and Iranian delegations. It was unclear what the terms of the negotiation were and what consequences would result from rejecting the American team's terms.

"The bad news is we have not reached an agreement," Vance said. "I think that's bad news for Iran, much more than it is for the United States of America. So we go back to the United States having not made an agreement. We've made very clear what our red lines are, what things we're willing to accommodate them on and what things we're not willing to accommodate them on, and we've made that as clear as we possibly could and they've chosen not to accept our terms."

Vance did not share additional information, adding he would not "negotiate in public after we negotiated for 21 hours in private."

He said that the U.S. diplomatic team wanted an affirmative commitment that Iran would not pursue a nuclear weapon or make moves to achieve a nuclear weapon. Vance added that although the Iranian nuclear facilities have been destroyed, the Americans wanted a guarantee that Iranians would agree to the terms of the negotiations.

"But the simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon, not just now, not just two years from now, but for the longterm," Vance said. "We haven't seen that yet but we hope that we will."

"We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer," Vance added. "We'll see if the Iranians accept it."

Nic Robertson, CNN International Diplomatic Editor, described the suspended talks as "a fundamental blow."

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