On Monday, an Alabama man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta for allegedly threatening Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in response to her prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Arthur Ray Hanson is facing charges for sending interstate threats to injure Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat. Sheriff Labat is in charge of the jail where former President Trump was fingerprinted and photographed after being indicted in August for allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Hanson appeared in Huntsville federal court in Alabama for the first time, and is scheduled to be brought to Atlanta for an arraignment next month. According to court records, Hanson, who is 59 years old, left two voicemail messages threatening violence against Willis and Labat after calling the Fulton County customer service line twice in August.
Hanson left a message for Willis, urging caution when going to the car at night or entering the house. “Watch everywhere that you’re going,” she warned in court records.
According to court records, the message conveyed a sense of fear, stating that if the person charged Trump on the fourth indictment, they would not always have people around to protect them. The message advised the person to be cautious and vigilant when alone, implying that they might be vulnerable to potential threats.
According to U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan, sending threats across state borders to physically harm prosecutors and law enforcement officers is a despicable act that aims to impede the administration of justice and intimidate those who have taken an oath to safeguard the rights of citizens. Threatening harm to public servants who are simply doing their job to enforce criminal laws can potentially undermine the very fabric of our society.
In August, Trump and 18 other individuals entered a plea of not guilty to all charges outlined in a wide-ranging racketeering indictment that accused them of attempting to overturn Georgia’s election results. Since then, four defendants have opted to take plea deals, in exchange for providing testimony against their co-defendants in the case.
The district attorney’s investigation has been criticized by the former president, who believes it to be politically motivated.
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