Florida Republican charged with threatening to 'call in a hit squad' to kill key rival

Sep 30, 2024 - 15:50
Sep 30, 2024 - 16:20
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Florida Republican charged with threatening to 'call in a hit squad' to kill key rival

DOJ unseals charges against William Braddock III, alleging he threatened Anna Paulina Luna in 2021.


DOJ charges Florida man with threatening to 'call in my Russian-Ukrainian assassination squad' to kill his political opponent, Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, in 2021.

On Thursday, the department unsealed an indictment against William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, Florida, alleging that on June 8, 2021, he repeatedly threatened to harm and kill Luna — identified in the indictment as Victim 1 — in a phone conversation with another person, Victim 2.

Braddock and Luna were candidates in the 2021 GOP primary for Florida's 13th congressional district. Victim 2 was identified as a private citizen and acquaintance of Luna.

In 2021, the Associated Press reported that Luna claimed in a Florida court that Braddock stalked her and threatened to harm her.

In her request for a temporary restraining order, Luna said she received text messages between Braddock and others in which Braddock allegedly said he wanted to "get me out." Luna added that others told her the text "implies he plans to kill me."

"I do not feel safe and currently fear for my life because of Mr. Braddock," Luna said in the petition.

The Justice Department said Braddock subsequently left the United States and lived in the Philippines, but was recently deported back to the United States, where he made his first court appearance in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Braddock was charged with one count of interstate communication of a credible threat to injure another person. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

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