A top Trump administration official railed against a staff member of California Gov. Gavin Newsom on social media for allegedly threatening her and federal agents. She said U.S. Marshals would be investigating the allegations.

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, wrote the post on X on Oct. 5, indirectly accusing Izzy Gardon, Newsom's communications director, of potentially putting her in danger.

Dhillon said Gardon's Oct. 5 X post appeared to blame the assistant attorney general for a fire at South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein's house on Oct. 4.

"A few weeks ago, one of Trump’s top DOJ officials publicly targeted this judge. Today, the judge’s home is on fire," Gardon wrote, in reference to the blaze that burned Goodstein's waterfront home.

Dhillon responded in a post of her own on Oct 5.

"Threats against me are referred to the US Marshals. There have been several tonight," Dhillon wrote. "We will tolerate no such threats by woke idiots, including those who work for @GavinNewsom."

"Govern yourselves accordingly. FAFO," said Dhillon, adding the acronym at the end that's short for "(expletive) around and find out."

The Justice Department did not respond to USA TODAY's requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Gardon, the person Dhillon accused of making the social media threats, told USA TODAY that Dhillon "owes us a full apology for her blatantly false implications."

The accusation is the latest episode in a longstanding feud related to Dhillon, a civil liberties lawyer and former vice chair of the California Republican Party, and Newsom and his staff.

Three people were hospitalized from injuries suffered during the South Carolina fire, including one who was airlifted to the hospital, authorities said. A cause of the fire has not yet been determined. The incident is under investigation.

In September, Goodstein ruled in favor of a party in a case against the Justice Department, court filings show.

Over the summer, the DOJ asked the South Carolina Election Commission for copies of the state's voter registration list. In August, Anne Crook, a South Carolina voter, filed a lawsuit to prevent the election commission from giving her voter registration information to the DOJ, according to the Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network.

On Sept. 2, Goodstein granted Crook's motion for a temporary restraining order, according to court filings.

The South Carolina Supreme Court, however, reversed Goodstein's decision in an order filed on Sept. 11, meaning the commission could turn voter information over to the Justice Department, the Greenville News reported.

Democratic Connecticut senator chimes in

The back and forth over the South Carolina case and Dhillon's role in it has broadened to include other Democrats. On Oct. 5, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, reposted Gardon's X post, which included a screenshot of a post that Dhillon made last month.

In that post on X, Dhillon said, "This @TheJusticeDept’s @CivilRights will not stand for a state court judge’s hasty nullification of our federal voting laws. I will allow nothing to stand in the way of our mandate to maintain clean voter rolls. One Citizen, One Vote!"

Dhillon told Fox News Digital on Oct. 6 that Gardon and Murphy had placed a target on her back for doing her job. She described it as "grossly … outrageous, inappropriate," adding that their actions "could cause me physical harm."

Murphy did not respond to USA TODAY's requests for comment.

Newsom staffer says Dhillon 'owes us a full apology'

Gardon, in an emailed hyperlinked statement to USA TODAY on Oct. 6, said, "Ms. Dhillon owes us a full apology for her blatantly false implications."

"Our office never threatened her, in contrast to the Trump Administration’s vile rhetoric against sitting judges. In recent weeks, Trump officials have referred to judges as 'terrorists' and 'legal insurrectionists,'" Gardon said. "She and her associates own that dangerous, disgraceful, and un-American rhetoric, and she should apologize for that, too."

In response to that statement from Gardon, which he also shared with Fox News, Dhillon posted on X on Oct. 6, "Don’t hold your breath, bro — I said nothing requiring an apology. Your staff are the ones putting targets on federal officials."

Dhillon then responded in another X post on Oct. 6, saying "Bro."

Contributing: Melina Khan

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump DOJ official says Newsom staffer, senator put target on her after house fire

Reporting by Terry Collins, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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