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Join Telegram ChannelThe Justice Department has accused a former primary opponent of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., of threatening to send a “Russian-Ukrainian strike team” to kill her political rival.
William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was charged with threatening to kill his primary opponent in the 2021 election for Florida's 13th Congressional District, as well as a private citizen and acquaintance of his opponent, the Ministry of Justice announced Friday. . The indictment, unsealed Thursday in the Middle District of Florida, describes the targeted individuals as only “Victim 1” and “Victim 2.”
On June 8, 2021, prosecutors allege Braddock allegedly made multiple threats to harm and kill his main adversary during a phone call with the second victim, specifically stating that he would “call my Russian-Ukrainian squadron” to take down the rival candidate. . The DOJ said Braddock left the United States after making the alleged threats and later resided in the Philippines.
Braddock was recently deported from the Philippines to the United States and made his first appearance in a Los Angeles court on Thursday.
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna attends a campaign rally for former President Trump at the Aero Center in Wilmington, North Carolina on September 21, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Luna, an Air Force veteran and former media consultant, was not named in the indictment. However, while running for Congress, Luna claimed in 2021 civil court documents that Braddock, a fellow GOP challenger and former Marine, was stalking her and wanted her dead.
A judge granted Luna and a conservative activist and friend, Erin Olszewski, a temporary restraining order against Braddock. He later withdrew from the race, denying the allegations and citing the publicity of the affair.
Politico reported at the time that Olszewski secretly recorded a phone call with Braddock in which he said a so-called “Russian and Ukrainian strike group” could kill Luna within 24 hours. “Luna is going to fall and hopefully it will be on its own,” Braddock reportedly said in the recording, according to Politico, which said it obtained the recording in June 2021. “For the better or for the sake of the majority of people, we have to sacrifice some.
In a text message to Politico, Braddock then reportedly said the tape “could even be edited and edited” and that he could file civil lawsuits and bring criminal charges against people in possession of the recording.
During court proceedings over whether the restraining order would be made permanent, Luna, who was twice endorsed by former President Trump, said she had only brief contact in person with Braddock at a political event, but that she had heard from several acquaintances that he had allegedly been making threats to have her killed.
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Mr. Braddock clearly hated my guts and wanted to hurt me,” Luna told the court, according to the Associated Press. “I started to be very afraid of him. It was horrible, and still is.”
“I think he's a mean person,” she said in September 2021. “I think he definitely terrorized me emotionally.”
Olszewski said she secretly recorded a phone call she made with Braddock in which he allegedly claimed the so-called Russian-Ukrainian strike team would respond quickly if he made a single phone call – and also made threats veiled against her three children if she repeated what she had done. he said. Olszewski said she shared the contents of Braddock's call that she recorded on an iPad with Luna, and both women called the police.
In the new indictment unsealed last week, Braddock is charged with one count of interstate transmission of an actual threat to injure another.
He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
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The case was brought in connection with the Justice Department's Election Threat Task Force, which was announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 to respond to violent threats against election workers.
Fox News Digital reached out to Luna's office for comment on Sunday, but did not immediately receive a response. A spokesperson for the Republican congresswoman declined to comment on the indictment to NBC News, but said Luna had “faced an increasing number of death threats” over the past month, reporting a ” broader and more worrying problem of violence in the political arena.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.