Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has said the recent threat made against her and Tanya Chutkan, the federal judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against former President Donald Trump, is “chilling.”
“I would simply say it’s chilling for your family,” Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat who is running for mayor of Houston, said in an interview with CNN on Saturday.
Jackson Lee’s comments come after Abigail Jo Shry, from Alvin, Texas, was arrested and charged for leaving a threatening message for U.S. District Judge Chutkan.
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Shry called Chutkan’s chambers on August 5 and left the message, in which she called Chutkan a racial slur, the criminal complaint said.
Shry “threatened to kill anyone who went after former President Trump,” according to the complaint. Prosecutors allege Shry said: “You are in our sights, we want to kill you” and, “We want to kill Sheila Jackson Lee.” She also allegedly said: “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you.”
“It’s chilling for your family, but I thank law enforcement who has really paid attention to this,” Jackson Lee said.
Investigators traced the phone number and Shry later admitted to having made the call, but said she had no plans to travel to Washington D.C. or Houston, according to the complaint.
Trump has publicly attacked Chutkan since being indicted over his alleged efforts to cling to power following his 2020 election loss. It is one of four incitements against Trump this year. The former president, who is running to for the Republican nomination, has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases and says the charges against him are politically motivated.
Chutkan imposed a protective order in the Washington case that limits what evidence handed over by prosecutors the former president and his legal team can publicly disclose and warned Trump and his lawyers about “inflammatory” statements.
“I have never seen this kind of outside attack” on the judiciary, Jackson Lee said on Saturday.
“The former president called her biased and unfair and inferred that she would not be handling his case on four counts of conspiracy under the special counsel fairly, And what does that do? Whether someone is sitting on their couch drinking, or however they might be motivated or others might be motivated, they’ve been given a signal that she is wrong and she is not right.”
Jackson Lee added that she hopes Chutkan has the “best security.”
“Even though this individual may have certain issues we don’t know, who else is thinking about it?” she said about the threats.
“The temperature needs to be brought down and the former president needs to be actively engaged in stopping the hysteria and egging people on, provoking them to do things that are against the Constitution and the order of this nation. Law and order has to prevail, not only for us, but for him.”
Newsweek has contacted Jackson Lee’s office and Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung for comment via email.