This week, former President Donald Trump shared a post on his ironically named social media platform, Truth Social, that could and should make him liable for incitement. He shared a post from another Truth Social user calling for New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James to be placed under citizen’s arrest. The post not only potentially subjects Trump to liability for incitement, but it also telegraphs his strategy in this case and possibly the other pending cases against him. He is trying to take his fight out of the courtroom and onto the screens of his would-be voters.
Trump shared a post from another Truth Social user calling for Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James to be placed under citizen’s arrest.
James is the prosecutor who charged Trump, and others, with civil fraud for allegedly inflating the value of Trump-owned properties to get larger loans from banks and better coverage from insurance companies. Engoron, the judge overseeing the case, granted James a partial victory before the rest of the case even went to trial. This week’s social media share was not the first example of Trump antagonizing the two. He unleashed a torrent of baseless criticisms against James and Engoron when he testified in the case last week.
But this week, Trump stepped up those criticisms and by “ReTruthing” a call for the arrest of Engoron and James endorsed that message.
As an initial matter, it is important to state the obvious. There is no basis for a citizen’s arrest of James or Engoron. New York does allow for such arrests, but only when the person being arrested has committed a felony in the presence of the person making the arrest. Neither James nor Engoron is guilty of doing anything other than their jobs.
Additionally, the fact that Trump “re-Truthed” someone else’s post, instead of posting it himself, makes no difference. Sharing a suggestion may be, and should be,…
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