Woman arrested and charged with threatening to kill judge presiding over Trump’s Jan 6 case
Suspect issued threatening messages against judge Tanya Chutkan and ‘all Democrats in Washington DC and LGBTQ community people’, court documents say
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A Texas woman has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s 6 January indictment.
Abigail Jo Shry, 43, of Alvin, Texas, left a “threatening voicemail message” after calling US district judge Tanya Chutkan’s chambers on 5 August, according to court documents filed with the South District of Texas Court.
Ms Shry’s voicemail included racist slurs against the judge, federal investigators and the Department of Homeland Security said.
In the call she threatened the judge, who is overseeing one of several election conspiracy cases brought against Mr Trump in recent months, saying: “You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” the documents said.
Ms Shry "threatened to kill anyone who went after former President Trump” and specifically threatened to kill Texas Democratic representative Sheila Jackson Lee, court documents said.
She also issued threatening messages against “all Democrats in Washington DC and all people of the LGBTQ community”, the filings said.
"The caller further stated, ‘You are in our sights, we want to kill you,’ and ‘We want to kill Sheila Jackson Lee,’" the court filing said.
"If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, b****," the call continued. Shry also allegedly told Ms Chutkan: "You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it."
Ms Shry was questioned by Department of Homeland Security agents on 8 August and she acknowledged making a phone call to the judge’s office, the department said.
She allegedly said she had no plans to travel to Washington or Houston to execute her threats but added that if Ms Lee "comes to Alvin, then we need to worry”.
US magistrate judge Sam Sheldon ordered Ms Shry to be held in custody for a month “to reasonably assure the safety of any other person or the community”.
Ms Shry faces one count of transmitting a threat to cause harm to another individual, a serious offence that holds a potential sentence of up to five years in prison.
The judge noted that she has been charged in the past in four separate incidents of "engaging in similar conduct”.
Mr Trump has openly criticised Ms Chutkan, a former assistant public defender nominated to the judicial bench by former president Barack Obama. He labeled her as “highly partisan” and accused her of being “VERY BIASED & UNFAIR!”
That was following her previous remarks in another case where she presided over the sentencing of a defendant involved in the 6 January 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
During a hearing on Friday, Ms Chutkan issued a protective order in the case, placing restrictions on the extent to which the evidence provided by prosecutors can be made public by the former president and his legal team. She cautioned Ms Trump’s attorneys that their defence should be presented within the confines of the courtroom and not disseminated on the internet.