WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department prosecutors are dropping their federal case against a woman who was charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump — the latest in a string of self-inflicted setbacks for prosecutors during President Donald Trump's law-enforcement surge in the nation's capital.
A grand jury refused to indict Nathalie Rose Jones before U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office asked a judge on Friday to dismiss her case in district court. A one-page court filing by Pirro’s office says
dismissing the case against Jones “is in the interests of justice,” but it doesn't elaborate.
Jones was due back in court Monday for a preliminary hearing. Her attorney, Mary Petras, asked the court to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” which would prevent prosecutors from reviving the case.
“Given the grand jury’s decision, Ms. Jones should not be forced to live under the threat of later charges and rearrest,” Petras wrote.
Petras said a prosecutor notified her Friday that “no additional presentations were made to the grand jury.”
“The charges against Ms. Jones were based on interpretations of statements the government presented to the grand jury," she wrote. "The grand jury rejected that interpretation of the statements and apparently agreed that Ms. Jones’s statements were consistent with her First Amendment rights.”
It is extraordinarily rare for a grand jury to balk at returning an indictment, but it has happened at least seven times in five cases since Trump's surge started nearly a month ago.
One of the instances involved the case against a man charged with hurling a sandwich at a federal agent, a confrontation captured on a viral video. A grand jury also declined to indict Edward Alexander Dana, who was charged with making a death threat against Trump while in police custody on Aug. 17.
Prosecutors on Thursday asked a magistrate judge to dismiss the federal case against Dana, but they charged him with misdemeanors in D.C. Superior Court.
A spokesperson for Pirro's office didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Jones' case.
Jones, 50, of Lafayette, Indiana, was arrested Aug. 16 in Washington on charges that she made death threats against Trump on social media and during an interview with Secret Service agents.
Prosecutors said Jones posted an Aug. 6 message on Facebook that she was “willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea.” When Secret Service agents questioned her on Aug. 15, Jones said she hoped to peacefully remove Trump from office but “will kill him out at the compound if I have to,” according to prosecutors. Jones was arrested a day later in Washington, where she joined a protest near the White House.
Jones repeatedly told Secret Service agents that she had no intent to harm anyone, didn’t own any weapons and went to Washington to peacefully protest, according to her attorney.
