As a Virginia jury continues deliberations in the tax evasion trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, the judge said he received threats over the case and refused media demands to reveal the jurors’ identities.
A motion by AP, BuzzFeed, CNN, NBC, the New York Times, Politico and the Washington Post asked US District Judge T.S. Ellis III to reveal the names and addresses of the Manafort jurors, as well as the transcripts of sidebar conversations with the attorneys in the case, which remain sealed.
“I don’t feel right if I release their names,” the judge said, explaining that he has received threats over the case, and is now being guarded by US Marshals. “The Marshals go where I go.”
Ellis explained that he intends to unseal most of the transcripts after the trial, but added that some of them will remain under seal so as not to interfere with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into claims of President Donald Trump’s “collusion” with Russia during the 2016 US presidential election.
They are getting really desperate now. The only reason to publish names and addresses is so they could send somebody to threaten or take out a family member to get them to vote how they want them to.
h/t keybored