{"slug":"threats-against-prosecutors-and-milley-2023","title":"'If You Go After Me, I'm Coming After You': Threats Against Prosecutors, Witnesses and Gen. Milley (2023)","date":"2023-08-04","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"The day after his arraignment on the federal election-interference indictment, Donald Trump posted 'IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!' Special counsel Jack Smith's office cited the post within hours in seeking a protective order. On September 22, 2023, Trump wrote that Gen. Mark Milley, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had committed 'an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!' Prosecutors cited that post as part of 'a sustained campaign of prejudicial public statements.' In December 2023 the D.C. Circuit largely upheld a gag order, finding that Trump's 'documented pattern of speech and its demonstrated real-time, real-world consequences pose a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the criminal trial process.'","summary":"While under federal indictment and running for president, Trump publicly threatened those pursuing him and suggested the country's top general deserved execution. A federal appeals court found his pattern of speech a significant and imminent threat to the trial and upheld most of a gag order. In his second term, the Defense Department stripped Milley of his security detail.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"significant","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/politics/trump-truth-social-smith-evidence-2020/index.html","title":"Judge denies Trump legal team's motion to extend deadline over protective order dispute in election case","publisher":"CNN"},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/25/trump-paul-gosar-suggest-gen-mark-milley-deserves-death.html","title":"Trump and GOP Rep. Gosar suggest Joint Chiefs boss Mark Milley deserves death","publisher":"CNBC"},{"url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/general-milley-responds-to-trump-social-media-post-60-minutes/","title":"Gen. Milley says he has 'appropriate' safety measures after Trump social media threat","publisher":"CBS News"},{"url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/prosecutors-cite-trump-remarks-push-narrow-gag-order-rcna118190","title":"Prosecutors cite Trump's recent remarks about government officials in push for narrow gag order","publisher":"NBC News"},{"url":"https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/politics/federal-appeals-courts/index.html","title":"Appeals court maintains most of Trump gag order in federal election subversion case","publisher":"CNN"},{"url":"https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5279386/hegseth-milley-security-detail","title":"Hegseth strips Milley of his security detail, orders investigation into his conduct","publisher":"NPR"},{"url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/security-bolstered-judge-overseeing-trump-election-case-rcna99221","title":"Security bolstered for judge overseeing Trump election case","publisher":"NBC News"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["threats","witness intimidation","Jack Smith","Mark Milley","gag order","Judge Tanya Chutkan","rule of law"],"relatedEntries":["doj-weaponization-political-prosecutions","attacks-on-judiciary","trump-first-term-gag-orders-mueller-witnesses","gag-order-violations-criminal-contempt-2023-2024"],"timeline":[{"date":"2023-08-03","title":"Arraignment","summary":"Trump is arraigned on the federal election-interference indictment. The magistrate judge reminds him that threatening or retaliating against witnesses is a crime (CNN)."},{"date":"2023-08-04","title":"'IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!'","summary":"Trump posts the message on Truth Social. Within hours, the special counsel's office cites it to the court in support of a protective order governing discovery (CNN)."},{"date":"2023-09-22","title":"Milley post","summary":"Trump writes that Gen. Milley's conduct was 'so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!' Rep. Paul Gosar separately writes that Milley 'would be hung' 'in a better society' (CNBC)."},{"date":"2023-09-29","title":"Prosecutors cite the Milley post","summary":"In a filing supporting a narrow gag order, the special counsel's office cites the Milley post among Trump's 'prejudicial public statements' (NBC News)."},{"date":"2023-12-08","title":"D.C. Circuit upholds most of the gag order","summary":"The appeals court rules that Trump can be barred from speaking about prosecutors, court staff and their families, and about witnesses' participation in the case. It finds his pattern of speech poses 'a significant and imminent threat' to the trial process (CNN)."},{"date":"2025-01-29","title":"Milley's security detail revoked","summary":"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth withdraws Milley's security detail, suspends his clearance and orders an inspector-general review of his conduct (NPR)."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"post-presidency","posture":"judicial-finding","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 14(1)","provision":"Right to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal; this depends on witnesses and court officers being free from intimidation"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Special counsel prosecutors, witnesses and court staff in United States v. Trump (D.D.C.); Gen. Mark Milley and his family","perpetrators":"Donald Trump (then a former president and candidate, under federal indictment)","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Defendant in United States v. Trump (D.D.C.); author of the posts","institution":"Trump 2024 campaign"}],"keyPoints":["August 4, 2023, the day after Trump's arraignment: 'IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!' Prosecutors attached a screenshot of the post, 'posted just hours ago,' to their filing on the protective-order request (CNN).","At the arraignment, the magistrate judge had reminded Trump that 'it is a crime to try to influence a juror, or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness … or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case' (CNN).","September 22, 2023, on Gen. Mark Milley's calls to Chinese counterparts after the 2020 election: 'This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act' (CNBC; CBS News).","Milley said: 'I'll take appropriate measures to ensure my safety and the safety of my family' (CBS News).","On September 29, 2023, prosecutors told Judge Tanya Chutkan that Trump was waging 'a sustained campaign of prejudicial public statements regarding witnesses, the Court, the District, and prosecutors,' citing the Milley post (NBC News).","December 8, 2023: the D.C. Circuit (Millett, Pillard, Garcia) largely upheld the gag order. CNN reported that the court noted the 'If you go after me' post as a broadly threatening message and said Trump's 'messaging [was] daggered at likely witnesses and their testimony.'","On January 29, 2025, after Trump's return to office, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revoked Milley's security detail, suspended his security clearance and ordered an inspector-general review of whether he should be reduced in rank. NPR reported that the detail had been provided because of Iranian threats (NPR)."],"legalBasis":"18 U.S.C. §§ 1512–1513 (witness tampering and retaliation, as the magistrate judge warned); the D.C. Circuit's December 8, 2023 decision upholding most of the gag order; ICCPR Article 14(1)","postureNote":"Judicial finding. The D.C. Circuit held that Trump's documented pattern of speech posed 'a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the criminal trial process' and upheld most of the gag order, while exempting comments about the special counsel himself. No charge was brought over the posts themselves.","relatedIncidents":["doj-weaponization-political-prosecutions","attacks-on-judiciary","trump-first-term-gag-orders-mueller-witnesses","gag-order-violations-criminal-contempt-2023-2024"]}}