A Texas woman was arrested last week on allegations that she sent a threatening and racist voicemail to the federal judge in Washington, D.C., who was randomly assigned to oversee the Justice Department’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
According to a criminal complaint filed last week, on the night of Aug. 5, prosecutors allege that Abigail Jo Shry left a voicemail for Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is Black, that said in part, “You are in our sights, we want to kill you.”
In the message to Chutkan, Shry alleged that if Trump were not to be elected president in 2024, “we are coming to kill you,” and “you will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it,” per the complaint.
In the voicemail, Shry also made similar threats against Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, who is also Black, along with threats against the LGBTQ community, the complaint reads.
Three days after the call, special agents with the Department of Homeland Security visited Shry’s home in the city of Alvin, located in the Houston metropolitan area, where she allegedly admitted to having made the call, court records state.
She told the special agents that she was not planning to travel to D.C., but “if Lee comes to Alvin, then we need to worry,” the complaint states.
Shry was subsequently arrested on a federal count of transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of any communication containing a threat to injure the person of another, per the complaint.
A detention hearing was held Tuesday, according to court records. A Texas federal judge ordered that Shry be detained pending trial.
Trump was indicted earlier this month by a federal grand jury in D.C. on four felony charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Chutkan, who has overseen several cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, issued a protective order last week limiting the use and disclosure of “sensitive” material in the case moving forward. Trump publicly attacked Chutkan in a Truth Social post Sunday, calling her “very unbiased & unfair.”
This is one of four criminal cases brought against Trump, the latest of which was handed down Monday by the Fulton County district attorney in Georgia. That grand jury indictment also accuses Trump and 18 others of attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
— Robert Legare and Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.