A Texas woman was arrested and charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and a member of Congress.
Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, Texas, called the federal courthouse in Washington and left the threatening message — using a racist term for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan — on August 5, court records showed.
Investigators traced her phone number, and she later admitted to making the threatening call, according to a criminal complaint. However, she said she had no plans to travel to Washington, D.C., or Houston to carry out any threats.
In the call, Ms Shry told the judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against Mr Trump, “You are in our sights; we want to kill you,” according to the documents.
Prosecutors alleged Ms Shry also said, “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you.” The 43-year-old also threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat running for mayor of Houston, members of the LGBTQ community and other unnamed Democrats, according to court documents.
A judge earlier this week ordered Ms Shry jailed. Court records show the Houston public defender’s office represents Ms Shry.
Mr Trump has publicly assailed Ms Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, calling her “highly partisan” and “very biased and unfair” because of her past comments in a separate case overseeing the sentencing of one of the defendants charged in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
