’60 Minutes’ Exposes Shocking Death Threats Against Judges Who Defied Trump

Sunday’s (March 1) 60 Minutes aired an explosive segment critical of Donald Trump, amid fears that the show might be softened to appease the president under the leadership of Bari Weiss at CBS News.

In the segment, CBS News’ Bill Whitaker spoke with 26 federal judges, both retired and sitting, including nine appointed by Democrats and 17 appointed by Republicans. Many of the judges told Whitaker they felt “under siege” by hardcore MAGA supporters.

The judges, including Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee who blocked Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship last February, detailed the increase in “death threats” aimed at judges who oppose the president.

“Some of it was very, very ugly, and very threatening,” Coughenour said of the messages he received after calling Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship “blatantly unconstitutional.”

He also detailed how five sheriff’s deputies showed up at his house asking to speak to his wife after receiving false reports that he’d murdered her. He also received a bomb threat the next day.

“I’ve been at this for 44 years,” Coughenour said, per Mediaite. “I have never encountered the hostility toward the judiciary that has existed in this country in the last year. And I don’t think it’s because we’re making bad decisions. I think it’s because there are people who think that they can make a lot of political hay out of criticizing the federal judiciary.”

Trump himself has attacked judges, most recently slamming the conservative Supreme Court justices for ruling against his global tariff policies. During a White House speech, the president called the judges a “disgrace to our nation” and “disloyal to the Constitution.”

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Whitaker also spoke to Judge Esther Salas, whose son Daniel was murdered during a home attack in July 2020. Salas noted how judges and their children have received hundreds of unsolicited pizzas, with at least 20 sent to homes in the name of Salas’ late son.

Salas said the message behind the pizzas is clear: “We know where you live. We know where your children live. And do you want to end up like Judge Salas’s son?… The order form had my murdered son’s name on it. They’re weaponizing my baby boy. They’re weaponizing Daniel’s name to inflict fear on judges.”

The segment comes after fears that Weiss, CBS News’ editor-in-chief, was changing 60 Minutes to appease Trump. In December, Weiss pulled a report on the El Salvador mega-prison CECOT that was unfavorable to the president, due to a lack of an on-camera response from the White House. The segment later aired in January.