On Aug. 11, a federal judge overseeing former President Trump’s fourth indictment cautioned Trump against making “inflammatory” statements. But on Aug. 14, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Georgia’s former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan shouldn’t testify in a grand jury inquiry about allegations of 2020 election result tampering. Earlier in August, former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham raised concerns about one of Trump’s social media posts possibly intimidating witnesses.

Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid argues that Trump’s threats and intimidations could put individuals at real risk.

This is arguably the most famous person in the world, and his public statements hold tremendous weight. He has an activated and historically and provably dangerous base of followers. This is intimidation. It’s also Trump’s M.O.

He has a long, long history of posting thinly-veiled threats directed towards people who are involved in legal proceedings against him. During his arraignment for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, the magistrate judge felt compelled to tell the former president, “I want to remind you that it is a crime to intimidate a witness or retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or otherwise obstruct justice.” 

Now, that might sound like boilerplate legal language, but the judge was almost certainly aware — as are we all — that Trump has no qualms about using language that barely skirts the limits of legality and puts his targets in actual physical danger.