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Man Indicted For Threatening Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis, Sheriff Pat Labat

The Trump supporter recorded expletive-laced messages ahead of the former president’s fourth criminal indictment, prosecutors say.

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Monday (Oct. 30) that accuses an Alabama man of threatening to harm Fulton County, Georgia’s district attorney and sheriff for their role in the arrest and prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

On Oct. 25, a federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted Arthur Ray Hanson II, 59, on charges of transmitting interstate threats, a U.S. Department of Justice statement said.

According to the allegation, Hanson called the Fulton County Government customer services line twice on Aug. 6 and recorded threats of violence against Sheriff Patrick Labat and District Attorney Fani Willis.

“When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder,” Hanson said in part of his message to Willis, adding, “What you put out there, [expletive], comes back at you ten times harder, and don’t ever forget it.”

After Hanson allegedly recorded that message, a Georgia grand jury indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants on racketeering charges in an attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win in the state – marking the fourth criminal case involving Trump. Willis oversaw a two-year investigation that led to the charges.

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“If you think you gonna take a mugshot of my President Donald Trump and it’s gonna be ok, you gonna find out that after you take that mugshot, some bad [expletive]’s probably gonna happen to you,” the government alleges that Hanson said in his message to Labat.

“If you take a mugshot of the President and you’re the reason it happened, some bad [expletive]’s gonna happen to you,” the message continued.

Before Trump’s indictment, Labat told reporters that his office would treat the former president like any other criminal defendant, including taking a mugshot and fingerprints, Atlanta station WSB reported.

“Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status; we’ll have a mugshot ready for you,” Labat said.

Hanson told The Associated Press that he is not guilty of the charges. He made an initial federal court appearance in Huntsville, Ala., and faces arraignment on Nov. 13 in Atlanta.

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