DC grand jury declines to indict woman accused of threatening Trump online
A Washington, D.C. grand jury declined to indict an Indiana woman accused of threatening President Trump’s life on social media, building upon a series of criminal dismissals from citizen jurors in recent weeks.
Nathalie Rose Jones was charged with threatening to take the life of, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States and transmitting in interstate commerce communications.
In a motion filed Monday, a public defender requested that Jones be placed on personal recognizance while awaiting a future court date if required, noting that a grand jury had declined to indict her.
“A grand jury has now found no probable cause to indict Ms. Jones on the charged offenses,” her team wrote.
“Given that finding, the weight of the evidence is weak. The government may intend to try again to obtain an indictment, but the evidence has not changed and no indictment is likely. For this reason the Court should release Ms. Jones on her personal recognizance to appear if required,” they added.
The request comes days after federal Judge James Boasberg ordered Jones to meet with her psychiatrist in New York City and approved home detention with a GPS monitor, overruling a magistrate judge.
Jones, 50, suffers from schizophrenia and has ramped up her criticism of the Trump administration in recent months after attending protests in Washington.
“I literally told FBI in five states today that I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea…” Jones wrote in an Aug. 6 post on her Facebook page.
“This regime has to go. The whole administration,” she told NewsNation in an Aug. 16 interview.
Despite her menacing words, family and friends say she behaves tolerably when taking her medication and is not a threat to others.
“While she has had mental health issues throughout her life, they have never, to my knowledge, resulted in violent physical action,” Karen Craig wrote in a letter to the judge presiding over Jones’s case.
Another person said they’ve only known her to fight her “battles with words.”
“She will comply with court orders if released. This is a shocking and embarrassing wake up call for her. She is disciplined from her time in the Army Reserve,” Rod Hughes wrote in a Aug. 22 letter of support.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “Any threat to the President’s life should be taken incredibly seriously — now more than ever considering President Trump has survived not one, but two, attempts on his life. This should be commonsense for anyone dealing with deranged individuals who make these types of threats.”
It’s unclear if the U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro will pursue additional charges for Jones at this time, though a strong rebuke was issued at the time of her arrest.
“Threatening the life of the President is one of the most serious crimes and one that will be met with swift and unwavering prosecution. Make no mistake — justice will be served,” Pirro said in a statement prior to the grand jury’s decision.
NBC News reports that D.C. grand juries have declined to indict at least six times in recent weeks amid Trump’s crime crackdown in the nation’s capital.
In one of the more prominent cases, a grand jury refused to approve felony charges against a man accused of throwing a sandwich at federal law enforcement officers while shouting, “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Prosecutors later charged the man with misdemeanor assault instead.