Texas woman charged with threatening to kill judge in Trump case, Texas Democrat
A Texas woman has been charged with threatening to kill the judge overseeing former President Trump’s 2020 election case and a House Democrat who is running for Houston mayor.
Abigail Jo Shry called Judge Tanya Chutkan’s chambers at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 5, just days after former President Trump was indicted on charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. After investigators traced her call, she later admitted to making the threatening phone call.
Court documents show that she called Chutkan a racial slur before threatening to kill anyone who comes after Trump, all Democrats in Washington, D.C., — including Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a 15-term Democrat who announced in March that she would run for the local election in Houston — and members of the LGBTQ community. She told Chutkan that “you are in our sights, we want to kill you,” according to the documents.
Prosecutors also accuse Shry of saying, “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you,” the documents said.
When investigators showed up to talk to her at her home in Alvin, Texas, she told them that she made the phone call, but was not planning to travel to D.C. or Houston to carry out her threats. However, she said if Lee comes to Alvin, then the investigators should worry.
A federal judge for the Southern District of Texas ordered her jailed on Wednesday, saying that keeping her in custody will "reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community."
Trump has publicly attacked Chutkan in the days and weeks since the indictment, where he was charged with four counts related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. On Friday, the judge entered a protective order that limits what evidence handed over by prosecutors Trump and his legal team can publicly disclose.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.