Merrick Garland & Election interference

the 2020 election we have seen an unprecedented spike in threats against the public servants who do administer our elections election officials workers and volunteers and communities across the country have been targeted with heinous acts and threats of violence the following are a few examples of successful enforcement actions that the justice department is taken over the past year in New Mexico County Commissioners and other elected officials were targeted with a series of shootings that the department has alleged in court papers were organized by an unsuccessful candidate for the state legislature who claimed that the election had been quote rigged against him at least three of the shootings occurred while the intended victims or their children or their family members were at home in February two Shooters who we alleged were recruited by the candidate pled guilty to carrying out the attacks in March the candidate himself was charged in the 13 count superseding indictment in Arizona a man sent a state election official a bomb threat warning that if she did not resign within two days quote the explosive device impacted in her personal space would be detonated in March the man was sentenced to 3 and A2 years in prison for making that threat in Maricopa County Arizona an elections official ACC County attorney and their families were threatened by a defendant who called for quote a mass shooting of pole workers and election officials and precincts he believed had quote suspect results his revolting comments included quote dead children burn into the memories of people the county attorney who had been targeted later reported that he his wife and four children had been assigned Round the Clock protection and issued body armor in response to the threat and the elections official who was targeted said in a victim impact statement that quote while I am the person directly threatened by this case the impact of such threats is felt by a much larger Community the thousands of committed election workers who operate our Democratic processes when threats are made against any election worker the impact reverberates throughout the entire community that defendant was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in recent months our enforcement actions have continued in July we secured the guilty plea of an Alabama man who repeatedly threatened to kill America Maricopa County election workers and officials in one particularly chilling message he said quote you better not come in my church my business or send your kids to my school you are stupid if you think you are safe his sentence ing is scheduled for next month also in July the justice department secured a 14mon sentence for a man who sent a death threat to a Michigan election worker in a voicemail he said quote 10 million plus Patriots will surround you when you least expect it and he added we'll kill you last less than two weeks ago we charged and arrested a Colorado man for allegedly threatening the lives of election officials judges and law enforcement officials in both Colorado and Arizona as I have said before and I will reiterate again today these cases are a warning if you threaten to harm or kill an election worker or official or volunteer the justice department will find you and we will hold you accountable in a democracy people vote and argue and debate often loudly in order to achieve the policy outcomes they desire and the justice department will continue to relentlessly protect the rights of all Americans to peacefully Express their opinions beliefs and ideas but the promise of our democracy is that people will not employ violence to achieve their preferred outcomes the public servants who administer our elections must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their Liv lives that is why this task force has been marshalling the full resources of the justice department to aggressively investigate and prosecute threats targeting election workers officials and volunteers and we will continue to do so in the months ahead when the task force will build on the Partnerships with state and local election officials and law enforcement officials task of protecting them since March task force has participated in more than 25 convenings engaging engagements trainings tabletop exercises including both with our law enforcement partners and with our partners in the election Community Nationwide over the next several weeks task force Representatives will be on the ground meeting with election workers and in early November both in advance of and after election day the FBI will be hosting Federal partners at its headquarters Command Center to address events issues and potential crimes related to the elections in real time election officials and administrators do not need to navigate this threat environment alone we are here to support them and to make sure they can safely carry out their critical work protecting our democracy and protecting our elections was a found in purpose when the justice department was established in 1870 the department answered that charge then and we will answer that charge today as we confront those who would use violence or threats of violence to attack those who administer our elections