(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The DOJ charged a former congressional candidate for allegedly threatening to kill Anna Paulina Luna during their Republican primary in 2021. Luna ultimately won both the primary and the general election in 2022.
Federal prosecutors allege that William Robert Braddock, a former Republican candidate, made several threats against Luna’s life, including during a phone call with one of her friends on June 8, 2021.
In that phone call, Braddock allegedly pledged to summon his “Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to make the now-congresswoman disappear.
After making the alleged threats, Braddock fled to the Philippines, as alleged by DOJ in a statement on Friday. He was deported to the U.S. and appeared before a judge on Sept. 26.
The charges are part of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Election Threats Task Force. It isn’t immediately clear why the DOJ did not prosecute the case three years after the alleged threats occurred.
The arrest comes just weeks after Luna raised concerns that her Democratic challenger in the 2024 cycle was allegedly permitting some of her supporters to issue threats against her on social media.
When you label people a threat to democracy and attempt to dehumanize/lie about them, violence occurs.
I am a new mom. I have a baby. I am a veteran. I am the first woman to be elected to hold FL-13 in Congress and the first Mexican American elected to Congress from Florida.… pic.twitter.com/JvB20p3Zc9
— Anna Paulina Luna (@realannapaulina) September 14, 2024
The 2021 threats arose from the primary race for the Republican nomination for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, following Democrat Rep. Charlie Crist’s decision not to seek reelection in favor of running for governor.
According to Politico, Braddock was secretly recorded urging a conservative activist not to support Luna, stating he was prepared to kill her.
“I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” the unhinged man allegedly said in 2021.
“That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a fucking speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood,” he added.
Pinellas-Pasco prosecutor Kendall Davidson refused to pursue criminal charges against Braddock, citing an alleged lack of probable cause because the threats were not made directly to Luna.
Federal prosecutors charged Braddock with one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The DOJ stated that the case is being investigated with the assistance of the St. Petersburg Police Department.
