Judge in Trump election case receives death threat; Texas woman arrested

A Texas woman has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Trump in Washington.

Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, Texas, called the federal courthouse in Washington and left the threatening message for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan — using a racist term in reference to her — on Aug. 5, according to court records. Investigators traced Shry’s phone number, and she later admitted to making the threatening call, according to a criminal complaint.

In the call, Shry told the judge, who is overseeing the election conspiracy case against Trump, “You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” the documents said. Prosecutors allege that Shry also said, “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you,” and she threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat running for mayor of Houston, according to court documents.

A judge earlier this week ordered Shry jailed. Court records show Shry is represented by the Houston public defender’s office, which did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.

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Trump has publicly assailed Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by former President Obama, calling her “highly partisan” as well as biased because of her comments in the sentencing of one of the defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

In a hearing Friday, Chutkan imposed a protective order limiting what Trump and his legal team can publicly disclose regarding evidence handed over by prosecutors. She warned Trump’s lawyers that his defense should be mounted in the courtroom and “not on the internet.”