U.S. Representative and retired Air Force Colonel Ted Lieu (D-CA) attended Georgetown Law School and served in the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) unit — that is to say, Lieu is familiar with the law and with threats.
The Congressman also purports to deliver a U.S. history lesson this week, on the subject of how much threatening pre-trial conduct by alleged criminals has historically impacted U.S. prosecutors. The impact, Lieu asserts, has been negligible — or “exactly zero,” he says — unless one considers how it stirs in law enforcement a greater diligence.
Lieu writes: “In the history of the United States, the numbers of prosecutors who run away in fear after being publicly threatened by a criminal defendant is exactly zero. Illegal threats by a criminal defendant will make prosecutors work even harder.”
In the history of the United States, the numbers of prosecutors who run away in fear after being publicly threatened by a criminal defendant is exactly zero.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 4, 2023
Illegal threats by a criminal defendant will make prosecutors work even harder. https://t.co/egRUJ9zwcY
Lieu’s history lesson surfaced in response to allegations that former President Donald Trump made threats flouting Judge Tanya Chutkan‘s pre-trial directives in the case of United States v. Donald J. Trump. One of the Trump posts at issue is his weekend post reading: “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!”
[NOTE: While many, like Lieu, believe Trump’s post(s) directly target Special Counsel Jack Smith, the DOJ, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis and potential unfriendly witnesses against Trump (like Mike Pence), others claim to find Trump’s language too ambiguous to constitute a threat to prosecutors or potential witnesses in his case(s).
As one commenter writes, slamming Lieu: “This is such a vague statement that it is nothing more than rhetoric utilizing figures of speech. He states ‘IF’ and ‘YOU’ could mean the spicy burrito he ate for lunch. What a pathetic reach.”]
Lieu doesn’t mention Trump in his short history of bravura prosecutors unintimidated by threats, which the Congressman presents without the backing of historical evidence. But the Trump implication is clear in that Lieu’s tweet is offered as a direct response to civil rights attorney Andrew Laufer‘s suggestion that, in light of Trump’s social posts, the Department of Justice should “should probably request the Court reconsider the former presidents bail conditions.”
One commenter reworks Lieu’s commentary into something a little snappier, saying sarcastically: “Threatening attorneys always works. It’s a tried-and-true way to escape jail time.”
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