Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating former President Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, said she has been receiving racist threats and voicemails, according to multiple news reports.
The threats come as Willis is expected to decide whether she’ll bring charges against Trump and his allies before September 1.
“I am sending to you in case you are unclear on what I and my staff have come accustomed to over the last 2 ½ years,” Willis wrote in an email, where she highlighted the threats. “I guess I am sending this as a reminder that you should stay alert over the month of August and stay safe.”
Willis’s email urging county commissioners and judges to stay vigilant over the next month before her expected indictment of the former President included an example of a threat she said she received last Friday.
The subject line for that email: “Fani Willis = Corrupt N*****.”
“You are going to fail, you Jim Crow Democrat whore,” the rest of the email read.
Willis added that others in her office and other county officials have also received threatening voicemails over the 2020 probe.
“I have every intention of doing my job,” Willis wrote. “Please make decisions that keep your staff safe.”
With possible charges expected against the former President, security measures around the county courthouse have ramped up.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department put up barricades around the building last week in expectation of the announcement.
And the Magistrate Court of Fulton County encouraged individuals who are scheduled to have hearings in the county courthouse in coming weeks to avoid going downtown in person and connect to their hearings virtually instead.
Willis acknowledged the increased security measures in an interview with the CNN affiliate WXIA over the weekend, praising the Fulton County Sheriff for taking precautions.
“I think that the sheriff is doing something smart in making sure that the courthouse stays safe,” Willis said. “I’m not willing to put any of the employees or the constituents that come to the courthouse in harm’s way.”
She added that people may not be happy with her upcoming announcements and “sometimes when people are unhappy, they act in a way that could create harm.”
The Civil War never ended.
Were the letters all signed “John Barron?”
Those individuals who send life-threatening messages need to be identified by state and/or federal authorities and charged in a court of law. I for one have had enough. If you disagree with a decision (once it has been made and announced), identify yourself and state your belief and why you disagree. That is what is protected. Not hiding and threatening individuals.
We can empathize and sympathize with the difficult role public servants must now play in today’s no holds barred political theater…deranged malcontents and perpetual losers have no choice but to crank up the rhetoric and threats. Their job is difficult enough without dealing with the irrational behavior that that gets more intense…encouraged and condoned by people in a position to mitigate the insanity.
This is true of journalists as well as elected officials. My spouse is a retired investigative journalist for a major publication, and even in the 1980s and 1990s we received threats of harm (dousing with acid) and death. One time the large office of his publication was on lock down due to a bomb threat to him. I shudder to think what journalists go through today, as well as people willing to serve on boards such as school and library, city councils and county positions, let alone state and federal offices and agencies.