U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump‘s election interference case in Washington, D.C., was the target of a “swatting” call Sunday evening, making her the latest victim of the dangerous attack.
The Sunday night call, which happened just after 10 p.m., sent law enforcement racing to Chutkan’s home in Crestwood, a neighborhood in Washington, according to a records search of the address stated by emergency medical services, which said they were responding to “a shooting.” The authorities were called off roughly 10 minutes later upon finding that the original call was not legitimate.
The name of Chutkan’s father, orthopedic surgeon Winston Chutkan, was included next to a description of the home address alerted to authorities, according to a Washington Examiner records search and examination of the emergency dispatch audio.
Tanya Chutkan, presiding judge in Trump’s D.C. criminal case, may have been the target of a “swatting” call tonight.
Police & fire services responded to a reported shooting at a home in D.C. They found nothing.
Per property records, Chutkan owns the home.
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) January 8, 2024
Lawfare reporter Anna Bower also tweeted Sunday night that Chutkan may have been the target of the “swatting.”
Chutkan is just one of several prominent figures in the political sphere to be victimized by swatting attempts. Swatting involves making a false report to emergency services to prompt a response to a particular address, and several such instances have recently happened to lawmakers and local officials across the nation.
Trump is facing 91 criminal charges across four indictments. The case Chutkan is weighing concerns special counsel Jack Smith‘s four-count indictment alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and will attend a hearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday over his bid to dismiss the case on “presidential immunity” grounds, which he says apply to him.
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Chutkan temporarily lacks jurisdiction over the case because the appeals court is considering Trump’s immunity claim. The threat against her house comes days after a suspect broke into the Colorado Supreme Court on Jan. 2. The break-in came after the justices there ruled Trump ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot under the “insurrection” clause of the 14th Amendment. That decision has been stayed, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on Feb. 8.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Metropolitan Police Department for comment.