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An Alabama man pleaded guilty to threatening Maricopa County election workers and now faces up to five years in jail, the Department of Justice announced.
Following Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that he was somehow cheated out of the 2020 election (though he never presented any evidence to back that up), threats against election workers have skyrocketed.
In this case, a 60-year-old-man sent a series of messages to an Instagram account maintained by Maricopa County Elections.
“You did it! Now you are [expletive]. Dead. You will all be executed for your crimes,” wrote Brian Jerry Ogstad of Cullman, AL.
“[Expletive] you! You are caught! They have it all. You [expletive] are dead,” he said in another one. “You are lying, cheating [expletive] . . . you better not come in my church, my business or send your kids to my school. You are [expletive] stupid if you think your lives are safe.”
Ogstad also suggested that election workers committed “treason” and should be executed.
Maricopa County is one of the places in which this alleged “theft” took place, and both Donald Trump and current GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake, who ran for governor back in 2020, have perpetuated this lie for years now.
The DOJ has stepped up its enforcement of existing laws protecting election worker and established a special task force for that purpose.
“The functioning of our democracy requires that our country’s public servants be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “We have no tolerance for this kind of heinous criminal conduct and the danger it poses to people’s safety and to our democratic process.”
Gary Restaino, the US attorney for the District of Arizona, condemned Ogstad’s actions and also praised the “resilience of public servants” in Maricopa County “who have worked courageously to maintain free and fair elections in spite of the threats received.”
It should be noted, however, that about half of the threats that election workers receive go unreported.
Still, any prosecution that may serve as a deterrent is a good sign.
Nicole Argentieri, the head of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, said the guilty plea is evidence that the department is committed to keeping election workers safe from threats and violence.
She also praised the work of the Election Threats Task Force, which was established in 2021 to combat the rising number of threats sparked by Trump’s rhetoric.
The DOJ may want to beef up that unit, because the former president is already laying the groundwork for another Big Lie.
Earlier this month, Trump said that “the only way I can lose is crooked judges.”
And his son Don Jr. said during the Republican National Convention that the only way his father could lose is by being cheated.
In other words, DOJ will once again have its hands full if the former president loses another race.
