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A federal grand jury in Washington has declined to indict an Indiana woman accused of threatening President Donald Trump on social media, underscoring growing resistance among D.C. residents to the administration’s aggressive use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in the capital.
Prosecutors charged Nathalie Rose Jones with threatening the president’s life and transmitting threats across state lines after she posted about Trump on Instagram and Facebook. According to court filings, Jones allegedly referred to Trump as a “terrorist” and a “Nazi” in a voluntary interview with the Secret Service. She also attended an Aug. 16 march that circled the White House complex before she was arrested.
Jones told authorities she had no intent to harm Trump. Her friends wrote in letters to the court that she struggles with mental health issues.
On Monday, Jones’ federal public defenders disclosed that a grand jury had rejected prosecutors’ request for an indictment.
“A grand jury has now found no probable cause to indict Ms. Jones on the charged offenses,” her attorneys wrote, urging the court to release her on her own recognizance. They argued that the decision showed the government’s case was weak.
Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had earlier ordered Jones released on home detention, overruling a magistrate judge who had recommended stricter confinement.
“Given that finding, the weight of the evidence is weak,” Jones’ lawyers wrote of the grand jury’s decision. “The government may intend to try again to obtain an indictment, but the evidence has not changed and no indictment is likely.”
Rare move reflects local pushback
It is unusual for a federal grand jury to decline to indict, but it has become more common in recent weeks as Washington residents express frustration over Trump’s deployment of federal officers and troops in the city.
In at least six cases, grand juries have refused to indict individuals facing federal charges tied to protests or confrontations with law enforcement.
Last week, a grand jury declined to indict Sean Dunn, a former Justice Department employee who was filmed tossing a hoagie sandwich at a federal officer. Dunn has since become a folk symbol of opposition to the federal crackdown, with graffiti-style art of a man throwing a sandwich appearing on walls around the city.
In other recent cases, grand juries also declined to indict Alvin Summers on charges of assaulting a federal officer, and rejected three separate attempts to indict Sidney Lori Reid for assault during a scuffle with an FBI agent. Reid’s charges were later reduced to a misdemeanor.
The string of refusals signals a deeper tension between Washington residents and the Trump administration’s federal enforcement campaign — and raises questions about the limits of using grand juries to advance protest-related prosecutions in the nation’s capital.
Meta description: A D.C. grand jury declined to indict an Indiana woman accused of threatening Trump, part of a trend of local pushback to federal crackdowns.
