Texas woman accused of threatening federal judge Tanya Chutkan

WASHINGTON — A Texas woman is accused of threatening Tanya Chutkan, the federal district judge overseeing the criminal case in Washington, D.C., against former President Donald Trump, according to court records.

>> Read more trending news

According to a filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Friday, Abigail Jo Shry, of Alvin, Texas, left a voicemail on Aug. 5 threatening to kill Chutkan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

Chutkan, 61, was assigned to preside over the criminal case involving Trump after a federal grand jury investigating the efforts of the former president and others to overturn the results of the 2020 election returned an indictment on Aug. 1.

Shry is charged with one count of transmitting a threat to injure another person, WUSA-TV reported. The felony charge carries a maximum prison term of up to five years.

Although Shry admitted to leaving the voicemail to investigators on Aug. 8, she denied any plans to travel to the nation’s capital or Houston to carry out any alleged threats.

However, she added that if “Sheila Jackson Lee comes to Alvin, then we need to worry.”

According to the complaint filed in the Houston court, Shry admitted to Department of Homeland Security investigators she left the voicemail in the judge’s chambers at 7:53 p.m. EDT, WUSA reported.

Court documents state that the voicemail began with, “Hey you stupid slave,” followed by a racial slur.

The woman allegedly threatened to kill “anyone who went after Trump,” the filing stated. The list of potential victims also allegedly included “all Democrats in Washington D.C. and all people in the LGBTQ community,” investigators wrote.

“You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” Shry allegedly said in the message, according to Bloomberg. “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, (expletive).

“You will be targeted personally, publically, your family, all of it.”

On Monday, a federal judge in Texas ordered Shry held without bond during a preliminary detention hearing, WUSA reported.

Chutkan was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in June 2014 by then-President Barack Obama, The Washington Post reported. The Senate approved her appointment by a 95-0 vote, according to Target Wire Services in a 2014 dispatch.