Federal law enforcement officers arrested a man named Eric James Rennert in Illinois who was indicted last month for allegedly threatening to kidnap and murder a federal judge in Florida, believed to be U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon.
Judge Cannon has been the presiding judge in the “documents” case against former President Donald Trump in the Southern District of Florida. She dismissed the case in July, ruling that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. Smith is currently appealing that ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
The indictment against Rennert lists six counts, all of which concern acts that allegedly took place in St. Lucie County, in Florida. Cannon is not identified in the indictment but is the only judge in the Fort Pierce Division of the Southern District of Florida, which is nearby.
According to the indictment, Rennert allegedly threatened in May to kidnap and injure the judge and the judge’s family. He also allegedly threatened in May to kidnap and murder her in retaliation for some aspect of her performance of her official duties. He allegedly made two more similar threats in May, and two more in July.
Democrats have been fuming against Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, for her rulings against Smith. In June, an NBC and MSNBC analyst was revealed to have been the origin of an “orchestrated campaign” to file ethics complaints against Cannon, which were dismissed.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.