Left: Donald Trump speaks at the annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, DC, in June 2024 (Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP). Right: Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg (U.S. District Courts). Inset: Nathalie Jones (Justice Department/Rod Hughes).
A woman accused of threatening to “sacrificially kill” President Donald Trump — allegedly calling him a “terrorist” and a “Nazi” — was let out of jail by Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg last week and allowed to return to her apartment in New York City, just days after a magistrate judge ordered the opposite.
Nathalie Jones, 50, formerly of Indiana, was initially denied bond over the alleged threats by U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya on Aug. 21 and ordered to undergo a competency evaluation while behind bars, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Boasberg, who is a Barack Obama appointee, chose to reverse the decision in an Aug. 27 order, reportedly telling the court that he didn”t feel Jones posed a threat to the public during another bond hearing held for her a day earlier, on Aug. 26.
“If she had a gun with her this case is easy,” Boasberg said, according to local CBS affiliate WUSA. “But the question is, why shouldn’t we consider this the rantings of someone with a mental illness with no ability to carry this out?”
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Jones, who allegedly has schizophrenia, has been charged with threatening to kill, kidnap or injure the president and transmitting kidnapping threats using interstate commerce.
Her alleged threats are said to have begun on Aug. 2, when an Instagram account later connected to Jones had made comments about Trump. According to the Justice Department, she called for his removal from office, labeled his administration a dictatorship, and blamed him for the extent of the loss of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The posts continued until Aug. 9, the DOJ said, but it was comments Jones allegedly made on Facebook that specifically captured law enforcement’s attention.
“I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with Liz Cheney and all The Affirmation present,” an account tied to Jones wrote to the FBI on Aug. 6, according to the DOJ. Eight days later, in a comment meant for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Lafayette, Indiana, woman allegedly wrote, “please arrange the arrest and removal ceremony of POTUS Trump as a terrorist on the American People from 10-2pm at the White House on Saturday, August 16th, 2025.”
On Aug. 15, the U.S. Secret Service allegedly spoke with Jones in a “voluntary” interview. It was here where she allegedly made the “terrorist” and “Nazi” disparagements and allegedly provided more specific details about what she would do if she got the chance.
According to the DOJ, Jones said she would kill Trump at “the compound” if necessary and that she had a “bladed object” that she would use as her weapon to “carry out her mission of killing” the president.
Furthermore, she reportedly stated her desire to “avenge all the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic,” for which she blamed Trump’s first administration and its position on vaccines.
Boasberg, like the magistrate judge, ordered Jones last week to undergo a mental health evaluation as a condition of her release. She will be on in-home detention — monitored by GPS — while staying at her apartment in New York, per court records.
“In my opinion, Nathalie Jones is not the kind of person who would be likely to physically harm anyone,” a friend wrote in a letter of support for Jones’ release. “Certainly, she should never be expected to carry out an angry threat against anyone. While she has had mental health issues throughout her life, they have never, to my knowledge, resulted in violent physical action.”
Another longtime friend from Indianapolis said in a separate letter that she has known “Nath” for 40 years and she “could never really physically hurt anyone.” The pal described Jones as being “open about her schizophrenia” and it “seemed she had it under control with medication,” according to the letter.
“Her social media posts were becoming more aggressive than usual with the new administration, but seeing as she would tag different government agencies and try to recruit them to sell solar panels with her, I didn’t take them seriously,” the friend said. “I don’t believe keeping her in custody benefits anyone. I would be more than willing to make regular phone check-ins, I regret I haven’t done it before now.”
Another longtime associate who knew Jones’ parents described her as a “mentally ill creative writer” who is “not a physical threat to anyone.” He said that Jones would comply with court orders if released. “This is a shocking and embarrassing wake up call for her,” the associate added.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, disagreed with Jones’ supporters and noted in court filings how she allegedly claimed it didn’t matter what state she was in.
“‘I literally told FBI in five states today that I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea,'” Jones allegedly said, according to a DOJ memorandum in support of her pretrial detention. “What makes Defendant’s conduct extremely troubling is that she took steps in furtherance of these threatening comments and militaristic references,” the memo added.
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On Aug. 26, the DOJ filed a response to Jones’ appeal of the magistrate judge’s detention order, saying Jones was a “clear danger to others” and would likely fail to appear as required if she were released pending trial. “Defendant’s threatening statements constitute ‘true threats,’ and her criminal conduct is not protected by the First Amendment,” the DOJ response said.
“[Jones] contends that she is not a danger to the community. This could not be farther from the truth,” the department added. “Defendant is the exact type of person that should be detained pending trial. She displays a penchant for violence, as displayed through her threats towards the POTUS. She does not care about the consequences of her statements and actions, as shown by her brazen decision to drive to Washington, DC, the day after telling law enforcement she would take the POTUS’s life. And she has mental health issues, which could affect her ability to exhibit self-control or cause her to discount the dangerousness of her actions going forward.”
Federal prosecutors have told WUSA that they are weighing an appeal of Boasberg’s order. The judge said during Jones’ bond hearing that if the Secret Service truly thought she was a danger and threat, she would have been arrested the day federal agents spoke to her, per WUSA.
“They don’t dissuade her from coming,” Boasberg told the court. “Doesn’t that kind of suggest they didn’t take those threats that seriously?”
Court records show Jones is scheduled for a preliminary hearing and status conference on Tuesday. Her defense team has filed an unopposed motion to appear via Zoom.
Conrad Hoyt contributed to this report.Â
