Nathalie Rose Jones, 50, was charged with threatening to kill the president.
A grand jury has declined to indict a woman who threatened President Donald Trump on social media, her lawyers said on Sept. 1.
It’s at least the third time a grand jury has recently turned down charges presented by federal prosecutors in Washington, who did not respond to a request for comment.
“A grand jury has now found no probable cause to indict Ms. Jones on the charged offenses,” lawyers representing Nathalie Rose Jones said in a Sept. 1 motion.
Jones, 50, was arrested and charged in August after a series of posts on Facebook, including one in which she wrote, “I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS.”
The woman, who had recently moved to New York from Indiana, also told Secret Service agents during an interview that she would kill Trump if she had the opportunity, according to court filings.
On Aug. 16, though, she told agents “she had no intent to harm anyone, including the president,” her attorneys wrote in the filing on Monday.
Jones consented to a search of her vehicle, which turned up no weapons, and there is no evidence she ever attempted to possess weapons, the attorneys said.
They briefly acknowledged her social media posts, but did not quote from or contest their legitimacy.
Instead, the attorneys said Jones should be released on personal recognizance because of the grand jury’s decision not to indict.
“Given that finding, the weight of the evidence is weak. The government may intend to try again to obtain an indictment, but the evidence has not changed and no indictment is likely,” they said. “For this reason the Court should release Ms. Jones on her personal recognizance to appear if required.”
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro had announced the charges against Jones, stating that “threatening the life of the President is one of the most serious crimes and one that will be met with swift and unwavering prosecution.”
