'I have armed myself': Judges threatened by MAGA after ruling against Trump speak out
Judges who have been threatened by fans of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement are speaking out against the president for fomenting security risks for themselves and their families.
NBC News spoke to multiple judges who have faced threats after ruling against Trump in a case. In a report published on Tuesday, judges appointed by Trump and other presidents stressed that Trump, administration officials, and MAGA influencers have changed the landscape for judges and have made it more dangerous to do their jobs.
Some judges reported being "swatted," a process that involves hoaxing an emergency dispatcher into sending SWAT teams to someone's house. Others said the U.S. Marshals have contacted them about threats on their life, and they responded by changing the route they take to work and upgrading their home security systems.
“I’m not a gun nut,” District Judge John Coughenour, a senior judge in the Western District of Michigan who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, told NBC News. But in light of these threats, he told the outlet that “I have armed myself.”
“The things they say and descriptions they use — I blame them for stirring this stuff up,” he added.
Trump and other officials have routinely attacked judges who ruled against the administration. For instance, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has said judges who rule against Trump's deportation operations are conducting a "judicial coup."
District Judge Stephen Bough of the Western District of Missouri, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, told NBC News that he and his daughter, who lives hundreds of miles away, started receiving unsolicited pizzas after Bough ruled against the administration's attempt to deport five Missouri college students.
“You alter your lifestyle and try to encourage your family to do the same. It feels like things are different now,” Bough told NBC News.
Even judges whom Trump appointed have not been spared.
“This is a world none of us thought we would be living in,” a Trump-appointed judge told the outlet.