Woman arrested for allegedly threatening federal judge in Trump election case

A Texas woman was ordered detained Wednesday after she was arrested and charged with threatening the federal judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s election case in Washington, D.C.

Abigail Jo Shry, 43, faces a charge of transmitting a threat to injure a person via interstate commerce, according to an affidavit signed by Joshua Henry, a special agent with the Federal Protective Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The affidavit, filed in federal court last week and first reported Wednesday by Bloomberg Law, alleges that Shry called U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s chambers on Aug. 5 and left a “threatening voicemail message” intended for Chutkan, who was randomly assigned to oversee Trump’s criminal case.

“Hey you stupid slave,” Shry said before she referred to Chutkan using the N-word, the affidavit alleges. “You are in our sights, we want to kill you. … If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, b—-.”

“You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it,” she is alleged to have said.

Shry also “made a direct threat to kill” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, the LGBTQ community and unnamed Democrats, the affidavit alleges.

In an interview with DHS special agents at her home in Alvin, Shry acknowledged having made the call, according to the affidavit, but said she had no plans to travel to Washington, D.C., or Houston to carry out any of her threats.

A lawyer for Shry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did a spokesperson for Lee. Chutkan’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sam S. Sheldon of the Southern District of Texas ordered Shry detained Wednesday.

Security has been bolstered around Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, after Trump suggested that his case was being treated unfairly and demanded her recusal last week on Truth Social, his social media platform.

A grand jury convened by special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump on charges related to conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He has previously disparaged prosecutors and judges involved in cases against him, though he has been noticeably more restrained in the classified documents case over which U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, one of his appointees, is presiding.

After Trump was indicted in a hush money case in New York in March, he warned of “potential death and destruction” and criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, whom he called an “animal.”

Trump and his allies have also disparaged Juan Merchan, the state judge presiding over the hush money case. Ahead of his court appearance in April, Trump called Merchan a “highly partisan judge” and said Merchan and his family were “Trump haters.”