The Justice Department has charged a former leading opponent of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) with threatening to send “Russian and Ukrainian hit squads” to kill political opponents.
William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, Florida, killed his primary opponent in Florida's 13th Congressional District race in 2021 and a civilian who was an acquaintance of that opponent. He was charged with making threats, the Justice Department announced Friday. . The indictment, unsealed Thursday in the Middle District of Florida, lists the targets only as “Victim 1” and “Victim 2.”
On June 8, 2021, prosecutors said Braddock allegedly made several threats to injure and kill his main opponent during a phone call with a second victim, specifically , said he would “call in a team of Russian and Ukrainian hitmen” to eliminate his opponent. . The Justice Department said Braddock left the United States after making the alleged threat and was later found to be residing in the Philippines.
Braddock was recently deported to the United States from the Philippines and made his first court appearance Thursday in Los Angeles.
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Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna attends former President Trump's campaign rally 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, is not named in the indictment. But while running for Congress, Luna claimed in 2021 civil court documents that fellow Republican challenger Braddock, a former Marine, had been stalking her and wanted her dead. did.
A judge granted Luna and her friend Erin Olszewski, a conservative activist, a temporary restraining order against Braddock. He later denied the allegations and withdrew from the race due to the publicity surrounding the incident.
Politico reported at the time that Olszewski secretly recorded a phone call with Braddock in which he revealed that “alleged Russian and Ukrainian strike forces” could kill Luna within 24 hours. It was reported that he had said that. “Luna is going to go down, but I hope she goes down alone,” Braddock allegedly said in the recording, which was obtained by Politico in June 2021. We have to sacrifice a few people. ”
Braddock reportedly said in a text message to Politico at the time that the tapes “may be altered or edited” and that he could file a civil lawsuit and seek criminal charges against the owners of the recordings. He said that he had sex.
Luna, who was twice supported by former President Donald Trump in court proceedings over whether the restraining order would become permanent, testified that she had only brief direct contact with Braddock at a political event. He testified that he received information from several acquaintances about Mr. Braddock's alleged contacts. threatened to kill her.
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Congresswoman 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 obviously hates my guts and tried to hurt me,” Luna said in court, according to the Associated Press. “I became very afraid of him. It was scary, and it still is.”
“I think he's an evil person,” she said in September 2021. “I think he definitely terrorized me mentally.”
Olszewski testified that he secretly recorded a phone call he made with Braddock, in which Braddock claimed that if he called, a squad of purported Russian and Ukrainian hit men would immediately respond. He also allegedly made secret threats to her three children if she did it again. he said. Olszewski said he shared the recorded phone call with Braddock on an iPad with Luna, and the two women called police.
In a new indictment unsealed last week, Braddock is charged with interstate transmission of a genuine threat to harm another person.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison, prosecutors said.
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The lawsuit was filed in connection with the Justice Department's Election Threat Task Force, announced in 2021 by Attorney General Merrick Garland to address violent threats against election workers.
Fox News Digital reached out to Luna's office for comment Sunday, but there was no immediate response. A spokesperson for the Republican congressman declined to comment on the charges to NBC News, but said that Luna “faces an increasing number of death threats” last month, which is “an increasing number of threats to violence in the political arena.” “This suggests the problem is broader and more worrying.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
