Last month, Townhall reported how a Left-wing activist group in Minnesota was advising citizens how to "resist" federal immigration laws by providing jury nullification training. That group, Defend612 seeks to "support resistance to the ICE occupation in Minneapolis" and ran two virtual sessions titled "The People's Pardon or Jury Nullification" at the end of February.
It seems this push to undermine our judicial system and the Trump administration is spreading, with reports that a Leftist activist group is doing the same thing in the Washington D.C. area and in other places across the country.
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— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
A left-wing activist group is teaching citizens in D.C. and elsewhere how to get on juries and vote to acquit defendants in cases brought by the Trump Justice Department, according to materials reviewed by the Free Beacon. pic.twitter.com/pUSjHxh9fH
A left-wing activist group is teaching liberals in Washington, D.C., and "across the United States" how to increase their chances of serving as jurors on cases brought by the Trump Department of Justice so they can undermine its chances of securing convictions, training materials reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.
Freedom Trainers, whose fiscal sponsor is the George Soros-funded group Community Change, is working to make "jury nullification"—the practice of voting against a conviction even if the defendant broke the law—a go-to legal weapon for the Left. Its sessions and training materials, reviewed by the Free Beacon, show how the group teaches "committed people" to gum up federal prosecutions.
The group tells attendees to keep their addresses current to ensure they receive summons. Then, during the jury selection process, it advises them to "Never mention jury nullification," "Don't signal an agenda," and "say you'll listen to the evidence before forming conclusions." Once selected, the group tells its trainees to vote "not guilty" for any reason.
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There is no institution the Left won't destroy in order to "resist" President Trump and Republicans. Of course, this can backfire on them in many ways, including leading to mistrials and legal consequences for jurors who misrepresent themselves during jury selection.
The group, Freedom Trainers—whose fiscal sponsor is the far-left, Soros-funded nonprofit Community Change—promotes “jury nullification,” the practice of voting “not guilty” even when jurors believe the defendant broke the law. pic.twitter.com/0xnQ0JYLkP
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
The consequences can include perjury, obstruction of justice, and contempt of court.
Training slides instruct participants to conceal their motives—“never mention jury nullification,” avoid signaling political motives, “dress in neutral clothes,” and say they will consider the evidence fairly. pic.twitter.com/GnvqMaDas4
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
This includes 18 U.S.C. § 1621, which makes perjury a crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
Once selected for a jury, trainees are told they can vote to acquit “for any reason you believe is just.” pic.twitter.com/hrZpMAO2Ux
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
This is a fundamental blow to the jury system and justice.
A pamphlet distributed by the group says jurors can reject a conviction “even if the technical elements of the crime were technically met.”
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
Freedom Trainers cofounder Daniel Hunter described the tactic as “a legal remedy to correct when the court system, when the Department of…
Hunter said jury nullification is “a legal remedy to correct when the court system, when the Department of Justice, has gone astray and awry.”
By which he means, "When Democrats lose an election."
Freedom Trainers says it was formed in late 2024 to prepare activists for a second Trump administration and claims to have trained “hundreds of thousands of committed people” nationwide.
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
And we may already be seeing the fruits of this.
D.C.-based grand juries have recently refused to issue indictments in several Justice Department efforts, including a protester who threw a sandwich at a Border Patrol officer.
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
It is highly unusual for grand juries to go against prosecutors’ wishes. pic.twitter.com/0hihEUiVtw
The Justice Department warned that efforts to influence juries undermine the judicial system.
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 9, 2026
“While we respect jurors’ role in the judicial process, the Department takes jury nullification and interference with official proceedings extremely seriously,” a DOJ spokeswoman said,…
The American jury system only works if jurors take their oath seriously and approach the evidence honestly and impartially. What these activist groups are encouraging isn’t civic engagement, it's the destruction of one of the bedrocks of American jurisprudence.
If activists lie their way onto juries to sabotage prosecutions, they aren’t defending democracy or resisting tyranny. They’re undermining one of the most fundamental institutions of the American legal system. Jury duty is supposed to be about justice, not politics, and turning it into a partisan weapon threatens the very rule of law these activists claim to defend.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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