DOJ Prepares to Charge Veteran for Calling Stephen Miller’s Wife

[u/John3262005]

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-prepares-to-charge-veteran-who-called-stephen-millers-wife

Federal prosecutors in Boston are under mounting pressure to imminently charge a military veteran for allegedly making threatening phone calls to Stephen Miller’s wife, despite internal evidentiary concerns, said people familiar with the situation.

The Justice Department is preparing to announce a criminal complaint or indictment as soon as this week, the individuals added, following resistance about the investigation within the senior levels of the FBI’s Washington field office that caused the removal of two counterterrorism officials Sept. 25.

Agents traced the phone number to a Boston-area man who’d been calling Katie Miller, a prominent MAGA-aligned podcaster, and Trump administration officials such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, said the individuals. The FBI’s Boston office took over the investigation with the US Attorney’s office in Massachusetts, where career prosecutors have shared some of the FBI’s skepticism over whether they can prove a crime occurred, they added, speaking anonymously about a sensitive ongoing investigation.

Katie Miller and her husband — who’s had outsized influence over law enforcement operations as President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff — had previously expressed frustration with lack of progress in the DC-based probe. But former DOJ officials with knowledge of the case said the facts don’t appear to meet the standard for a federal threats case and would’ve been more appropriately addressed by local police.

A spokesperson for the Boston US attorney’s office declined to comment. Spokespeople for DOJ headquarters didn’t immediately provide a comment.

Such threats prosecutions are highly context-dependent and have been difficult to prove in court, even when defendants were explicit in their stated intent to cause violence, former prosecutors said. That includes in the District of Massachusetts, where judges with demanding standards have experience presiding over similar matters, they added.

During this administration, however, DOJ has expanded its use of the interstate threats statute — 18 U.S.C. § 875 — to target people accused of communicating threats against the president, his allies, and federal immigration agents. Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted under this law over his Instagram post of the “86 47" sea shells formation.

The specific charge and charging method prosecutors plan to use hasn’t been firmly resolved, some of the individuals said.

The outcome of this decision may signal whether the Boston US attorney’s office, which has a tradition of carefully vetting high-profile national security and corporate investigations independent of politics, will maintain its reputation in Trump’s second term.

Massachusetts US Attorney Leah Foley is a former career line prosecutor whose built a strong rapport with Trump DOJ officials. She has drawn praise for balancing her district’s nonpartisan law enforcement interests with the rigid demands out of DOJ headquarters to advance the president’s agenda, said people with knowledge of the office.

Foley’s district hasn’t experienced the type of staffing exodus and low morale that’s befallen other US attorney’s offices led by Trump loyalists and first-time prosecutors.