Act Daily News
—
An Ohio man who allegedly threatened to kill an Arizona state election official throughout the 2022 midterm election season is now going through federal prices, the Justice Department introduced Wednesday.
Joshua Russell, 44, allegedly left voicemails for an unnamed election official who labored for the Arizona secretary of state’s workplace within the lead-up to the midterm elections, in response to prosecutors.
“The only reason you’re still walking around on this planet is because we’re waiting for the midterms to see you prosecuted for the crimes you have done to our nation,” Russell mentioned in a September voicemail, in response to courtroom paperwork.
His arrest is the newest case introduced by the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which Attorney General Merrick Garland introduced final yr to handle the rise in threats towards election officers. The job drive has introduced at the least six federal instances to date, and native officers in Colorado, Arizona and Michigan have every pursued a prison case for threats towards election staff.
According to prosecutors, Russell repeatedly referred to as the Arizona election official a “traitor,” and claimed the worker didn’t cease election fraud in 2020 when baseless claims of fraud had been widespread, including that he believed the official wasn’t doing sufficient to guard the newest election.
Russell additionally allegedly left a message for the official after the election, saying: “We will not endure your crimes on America another day. You’ve been busted, over and over again.”
“A war is coming for you. The entire nation is coming for you,” he continued, in response to prosecutors.
Russell is charged with three counts of constructing a threatening interstate communication and three counts of constructing a threatening interstate phone name. If convicted, he faces as much as 5 years in jail for every rely of constructing an interstate menace and two years in jail for every rely of constructing a threatening interstate phone name.
Russell doesn’t have an legal professional listed in courtroom filings.