The federal Justice Department is taking threats towards election workers at both the long-term and volunteer levels seriously. Recently, the department announced a prison sentence in the case of a Texas man who’d made online threats against various figures in Georgia, advancing false claims tracing to Trump of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. On the occasion of this sentence, which was for two years, Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged the Justice Department’s “full force” against similar threats.
“Threats of violence against those who administer our elections are dangerous for people’s personal safety, and they are dangerous for our democracy,” Garland said in prepared remarks. “This sentence should serve as warning — illegal threats against the public servants who make our democracy work will be met with the full force of the Justice Department.”
It could be argued that ex-President-turned-continued presidential contender Donald Trump himself facilitates such threats, so consistently singling out at least election workers as a category for his bizarre and debunked conspiracy theories. Trump has, for instance, referenced conspiracy theories about 2020 election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss even long after leaving office, glossing over the already established record of these women facing serious threats to their safety in tandem with the lie they were involved in fraud. The campaign against Freeman and Moss underlies part of the wide-ranging criminal conspiracy case brought by Georgia’s local prosecutor Fani Willis against Trump and what were originally 18 others, though several have since taken plea deals.
Trump suggests that evidence proving his claims of election rigging will be presented by his side during some of his forthcoming trial proceedings. There’s no indication he actually has such evidence. “Massive information and 100% evidence will be made available during the Corrupt Trials started by our Political Opponent. We will never let 2020 happen again. Look at the result, OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED,” he claimed in October on Truth Social.
