INTERNACIONAL
Acquittal of man who urged violence against Trump puts First Amendment in spotlight
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The First Amendment won out this week in a court case over a man who had repeatedly called for President Donald Trump’s assassination and openly fantasized about his violent demise.
A jury in Virginia acquitted the man, Peter Stinson, of one charge of soliciting a crime of violence, raising questions about when speech is protected by the Constitution and when it becomes incriminating.
A former longtime Coast Guard officer, Stinson had called for someone to «take the shot» in reference to Trump, according to court papers. «Realistically the only solution is violence,» Stinson wrote.
Stinson said he «would twist the knife after sliding it into [Trump’s] fatty flesh» and that he «would be willing to pitch in» for a hitman contract.
TED CRUZ SAYS HATE SPEECH ‘ABSOLUTELY’ PROTECTED BY FIRST AMENDMENT FOLLOWING CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is reflected in bulletproof glass as he finishes speaking at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
«He wants us dead. I can say the same thing about him,» Stinson wrote in another post during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A witness for the defense, Professor Jen Golbeck of the University of Maryland, said people «rooting for Trump to die online» is common.
«On one hand, I would not encourage anyone to post those thoughts on social media,» Golbeck said, according to the Washington Post. «On the other hand, I can’t count the number of people who I saw post similar things. . . . It’s a very common sentiment. There’s social media accounts dedicated to tracking whether Trump has died.»
Brennen VanderVeen, program counsel with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said that one issue with the charges in Stinson’s case was that it was not clear whom Stinson was soliciting to carry out the crime.
«Solicitation is when it’s directly tied to the crime. So, if he contacts an actual hit man and tries to arrange some sort of hit contract, that’s solicitation,» VanderVeen told Fox News Digital. «Without more . . . that probably does not meet the elements of actual solicitation.»
Stinson’s attorneys argued in court documents that their client’s posts were not threats but rather «political advocacy that the First Amendment was squarely designed to protect.»
«They lack the ‘specificity, imminence, and likelihood of producing lawless action’ required to fall outside constitutional protection,» the attorneys said.
Threats to conservative SCOTUS justices and Obama
The jury acquittal, which was handed down quickly after a two-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, came at a time when political violence has taken the spotlight, particularly in the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination and a string of recent violence toward immigration enforcement officers, and as Republican and Democratic political figures continuously face threats.
A person convicted of attempting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh had taken concrete steps by searching the internet for mass shootings, discussing killing a Supreme Court justice in internet chats and showing up armed at Kavanaugh’s house in 2022.
A man who participated in the Jan. 6 riot was convicted by a judge in a separate case of firearms charges and making a hoax threat aimed at former President Barack Obama. He was sentenced this week to time served after he livestreamed himself driving around the former president’s neighborhood and saying he was «working on a detonator.» He was found with a machete and illegal weapons.
In a looming constitutional test, another man is facing charges of threatening federal judges by sending hundreds of ominous messages through the Supreme Court website referencing several justices’ graphic murders. He tried to have his case tossed out over First Amendment concerns, but a judge denied the request, saying a jury would need to weigh that argument.
BONDI ‘HATE SPEECH’ REMARKS SPARK TORRENT OF CRITICISM FROM CONSERVATIVES
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh watches as Taoiseach Micheal Martin speaks at a breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images)
Presidents, senators, House lawmakers and members of the judiciary routinely speak about facing a range of threats, whether in public forums or through direct messages.
High court greenlights ‘vituperative’ language
One legal test in these cases came in 1969, when the Supreme Court decided in favor of a protester who allegedly had told a group of people while discussing getting drafted for the Vietnam War that if he was handed a rifle, the first man he wanted to kill was President Lyndon Johnson. His remark was political hyperbole rather than a «true threat,» the high court found.
«What is a threat must be distinguished from what is constitutionally protected speech,» the majority wrote. «The language of the political arena . . . is often vituperative, abusive, and inexact.»
Stinson was initially charged with two counts of a threat against the president, but the DOJ shifted course and brought the one solicitation charge against him.
DOJ lawyers argued that Stinson’s incessant violent comments on X and Bluesky, coupled with self-identifying as an Antifa member, met the charging criteria, but prosecutors failed to convince a jury that the speech was more than bluster.
Kirk spurs examination of ‘hate speech’
In the case of Kirk’s murder, finger-pointing ensued. Republicans blamed inflammatory rhetoric from Kirk’s political opponents for inciting his death.
Attorney General Pam Bondi stirred the conversation by saying in an interview after Kirk’s death that the DOJ would «absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.» Bondi later walked back her comment, saying speech that «crosses the line into threats of violence» is punishable by law.
Attorney General Pam Bondi. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
In cases of inciting violence, according to VanderVeen, speech remains protected when there is a lacking a nexus between the words and the attack.
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«Incitement is more about the imminence. . . . How much time would have to pass between that person’s speech and the actual unlawful act of the violence?» VanderVeen said, noting that inciting violence typically involves addressing a mob.
«If someone’s saying, ‘Violence is good,’ but there’s no imminent lawless action there, someone else has to say, ‘That guy’s right, that violence is good. I’m going to start doing violence,’» VanderVeen said. «At that point, that’s on the person doing the violence.»
judiciary,justice department,supreme court,donald trump,politics
INTERNACIONAL
US allowing some Nigeria embassy staff to evacuate over ‘deteriorating security situation’
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The State Department said it authorized the departure of some staff at its embassy in Nigeria over the «deteriorating security situation» in the African country.
The development comes weeks after the U.S. military reportedly sent MQ-9 Reaper drones to Nigeria amid fears of a renewed insurgency by the terrorist group Boko Haram. The day before the authorization was issued, gunmen attacked two villages about 155 miles from Abuja, where the U.S. embassy is located, killing 20 people, residents told The Associated Press.
«On April 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of State authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and family members from U.S. Embassy Abuja due to the deteriorating security situation,» the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria said. «The U.S. Embassy in Abuja will remain open but will have limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Nigeria.»
«The U.S. Consulate General in Lagos will continue to provide routine and emergency services to U.S. citizens in Nigeria,» it added. «The Department of State Travel Advisory for Nigeria remains at Level 3, recommending travelers reconsider travel to Nigeria due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, armed gangs, and inconsistent availability of health care services.»
GUNMEN ON BIKES STORM NIGERIA VILLAGE ON PALM SUNDAY, KILLING AT LEAST 20
Nigerian soldiers prepare to patrol in Maiduguri on March 18, 2026, following a deadly triple suicide bombing that killed 23 people on March 16. (Audu Marte/AFP/Getty Images)
The embassy also said, «U.S. citizens in Abuja should consider departing if you do not need to remain for emergency or essential purposes.»
The recent attacks occurred in the early hours of Tuesday in Bagna and Erena, located in the Shiroro area of Niger state.
«They came on motorbikes and began shooting. It was a surprise attack, because it was in the early hours of the morning,» Jibrin Isah, who lives in Erena, told the AP.
100 US TROOPS LAND IN NIGERIA AS ISLAMIC MILITANTS THREATEN WEST AFRICA REGIONAL SECURITY
Police officers gather at the scene of Sunday night gunmen attack in the Gari Ya Waye community in Nigeria, Monday, March 30, 2026. (Samson Omale/AP)
Residents said at least 20 people were killed, with more missing. However, local police said only three people were killed.
The State Department said in a travel advisory issued Wednesday that there is «risk of terrorist violence, including terrorist attacks and other activity in Nigeria,» adding, «Terrorists collaborate with local gangs to expand their reach» and «They may attack with little or no warning.»
The MQ-9 drones reportedly were deployed to Nigeria in late March after 200 U.S. troops arrived in February to provide training and intelligence. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north of the country.
A spokesperson for AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command, had told the AP that U.S. troops «are working alongside their Nigerian counterparts to provide intelligence support, advisory assistance, and targeted training in support of the Nigerian Armed Forces.»
Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups active in Nigeria are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State and is known as Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP.
A U.S. military MQ-9 Reaper drone approaches for landing at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 29, 2025. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP)
There is also the ISIS-linked Lakurawa, as well as other «bandit» groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining.
President Donald Trump has spoken out against violence targeting Christians in Nigeria, telling Fox News Radio last year, «I’m really angry about it» and «What’s happening in Nigeria is a disgrace.»
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also met with Nigerian national security advisor Nuhu Ribadu last November amid threats from Trump to cut off aid to Nigeria if the country «continues to allow the killing of Christians.» Nigerian officials have pushed back on the accusation.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
warnings, counter terrorism, us, state department, military
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House Democrats are weighing a long-shot scenario to remove President Donald Trump using the 25th Amendment, but are declining to say whether they’ll act before the November midterm elections.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., will brief congressional Democrats Friday afternoon on the constitutional mechanism that would rely heavily on Trump’s Cabinet agreeing to push him out of office.
The 25th Amendment has never been used before to involuntarily remove a president and is effectively moot without widespread Republican buy-in. But a bevy of House Democrats have embraced that scenario following the president’s escalating conflict with Iran.
«Donald Trump’s deranged threat to destroy ‘a whole civilization’ in Iran is a threat to commit war crimes and genocide,» Raskin wrote on social media Tuesday. «Republicans in Congress must prevail upon Vice President Vance, now campaigning for Putin’s puppet Viktor Orban in Hungary, to return to the U.S. and invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.»
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks to reporters outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2021, after meeting with members of the select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. The committee is scheduled to hold its first hearing next week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
MASSIE-LED PUSH TO HANDCUFF TRUMP ON IRAN GETS JEFFRIES’ BACKING
«The 25th Amendment should be invoked to spare our country and the world from his increasingly unhinged behavior,» Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., a member of the Judiciary Committee, also said Tuesday.
Dozens of House Democrats have continued to press for the president’s ouster despite the announcement of a two-week ceasefire.
«All options should be on the table,» Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said Thursday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has offered support for the briefing and ongoing discussions about the president’s removal, saying Democrats are considering a «range of accountability mechanisms.»
The lead Democrat, however, has remained ambiguous about his personal views despite signaling that all options remain on the table. That is largely in keeping with Jeffries’ efforts over the past year to keep the focus away from impeachment talk while leaning into policy fights over health care costs, tariffs and immigration enforcement.
Fox News Digital reached out to members of House Democratic leadership, but did not receive a response before publication.
A spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee declined to comment on the 25th Amendment briefing.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., are seen before a rally with House Democrats on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to oppose the Senate passed spending bill that would reopen the government because it does not extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
LONGTIME TRUMP CRITIC REVEALS WHY SHE THINKS HIS IRAN ACTIONS ARE WRONG, WARNS IT’S A ‘MUCH BIGGER WAR’
Jeffries largely sidestepped a question Thursday regarding why Democrats are having conversations about removing Trump during a news conference in New York City.
«We have a responsibility as a separate and co-equal branch of government to defend the American people, and we want to be able to do it in an informed way,» Jeffries said before pivoting to criticizing Republicans over the cost of living.
«We’ve ruled nothing out and we’ve ruled nothing in,» Jeffries told MS Now when asked about whether he thought the 25th Amendment should be invoked.
In both appearances Jeffries did not acknowledge that Democrats, who are effectively powerless in Washington, lack the numbers to successfully push impeachment or constitutional mechanisms to oust Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to address the nation from the Cross Hall of the White House on April 1, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
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In the 25th Amendment scenario, the power rests with Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s Cabinet, who would have to agree the president is unfit to serve. Assuming Trump were to challenge that decision, two-thirds of the House and Senate — meaning a significant number of Republicans in Congress — would have to vote in support of that judgment.
At present, Democrats also have a math problem when it comes to impeachment and conviction, which requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Congressional Democrats failed twice to convict Trump in his first term.
midterm elections, republicans, congress, donald trump, democrats
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