James Comey

We needed to believe that there is an imminent threat to life or limb.

— In an email from a Secret Service special agent in charge, cited in court filings

One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list, and today I proudly join that list.

— Newsom in a video posted on X, stating that Trump is targeting him due to his potential presidential bid and his outspoken critique of Trump’s lies

This post falls clearly within the ambit of protected political speech. The Supreme Court has made clear that even hyperbolic or what some might consider intemperate political expression, it's protected unless it crosses the line into a real threat, a true threat.

— Perry Carbone, law professor at Pace University and former chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan

Well, if anybody knows anything about crime, they know 86 — you know what 86 — it’s a mob term for kill him. You know? You ever see the movies? '86 him,' the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates, '86 him.' That means 'kill him.' It’s, I think of it as a mob term,

— Donald Trump, in the Oval Office, explaining the meaning of the term '86' during remarks reported by NBC News.