{"id":147448,"date":"2023-10-30T16:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T20:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=147448"},"modified":"2024-01-07T09:19:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T14:19:03","slug":"alabama-man-indicted-for-threatening-fulton-county-officials-over-trump-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=147448","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Man Indicted for Threatening Fulton County Officials Over Trump Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The Gist:<\/strong> Arthur Ray Hanson II, from Huntsville, Alabama, was indicted on October 25 for allegedly making threats against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Sheriff Patrick Labat. The threats were linked to their roles in the investigation of former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83e\udd14 <strong>Why It Matters:<\/strong> The indictment underscores the ongoing tension and potential risks faced by public officials involved in politically charged investigations. It also raises concerns about the safety of those tasked with upholding the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2753 <strong>What&#8217;s Happening:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hanson made his initial court appearance in Alabama and will be arraigned in <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"\/city\/Atlanta\"   title=\"Atlanta\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">Atlanta<\/a> on November 13.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The threats were specifically aimed at intimidating the officials for their involvement in the Trump investigation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Messages:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his message for the Sheriff, Hanson made statements that included: \u201cif you think you gonna take a mugshot of my President Donald Trump and it\u2019s gonna be ok, you gonna find out that after you take that mugshot, some bad [expletive]\u2019s probably gonna happen to you;\u201d \u201cif you take a mugshot of the President and you\u2019re the reason it happened, some bad [expletive]\u2019s gonna happen to you;\u201d \u201cI\u2019m warning you right now before you [expletive] up your life and get hurt real bad;\u201d \u201cwhether you got a [expletive] badge or not ain\u2019t gonna help you none;\u201d and \u201cyou gonna get [expletive]ed up you keep [expletive]ing with my President.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Hanson\u2019s message for the District Attorney, he made statements that included: \u201cwatch it when you\u2019re going to the car at night, when you\u2019re going into your house, watch everywhere that you\u2019re going;\u201d \u201cI would be very afraid if I were you because you can\u2019t be around people all the time that are going to protect you;\u201d \u201cthere\u2019s gonna be moments when you\u2019re gonna be vulnerable;\u201d \u201cwhen you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you\u2019re alone, be looking over your shoulder;\u201d and \u201cwhat you put out there, [expletive], comes back at you ten times harder, and don\u2019t ever forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udd0d <strong>Between the Lines:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The threats were made via voicemails left on the Fulton County Government customer services line.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said that such threats weaken the foundation of society and the justice system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83c\udfc3 <strong>Catch Up Quick:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The FBI is investigating the case.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bret R. Hobson and Brent Alan Gray are prosecuting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Speaking Out:<\/strong> \u201cThreats against public servants are not only illegal, but also a threat against our democratic process,\u201d said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta.\u00a0 \u201cThe FBI\u2019s mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. We take this responsibility very seriously and seek to punish those who engage in this type of criminal behavior, and to send the message that such conduct will not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\uddbc\ufe0f <strong>The Big Picture:<\/strong> This case is evidence of an increase in extremism in the United States since the 2020 election. The indictment serves as a reminder that threats against public officials are, in fact, illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udcc8 <strong>By The Numbers: <\/strong>Since the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, there have been 213 identified cases of political violence leading to at least 39 deaths, with notable incidents including politically motivated mass killings. A concerning number of Americans appear open to political violence, with over 1 in 5 expressing some level of acceptance towards such acts to advance their political goals. The trend, escalating since 2016, is largely tied to rising political polarization, with the violence predominantly emerging from right-wing factions, reflecting a deep-rooted division within the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Gist: Arthur Ray Hanson II, from Huntsville, Alabama, was indicted on October 25 for allegedly making threats against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Sheriff Patrick Labat. The threats were linked to their roles in the investigation of former President Donald Trump. \ud83e\udd14 Why It Matters: The indictment underscores the ongoing tension and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":111943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[9308,14825,8526],"class_list":["post-147448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-alabama","tag-democracy","tag-donald-trump","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}