Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee calls threat of attack on her, Chutkan ‘chilling’

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said Saturday that recent threats made against her and the federal judge overseeing former President Trump’s 2020 election case are “chilling.”

“I’ll just say it’s chilling for your family,” Jackson Lee said in an interview Saturday with CNN. “But I’m thankful for law enforcement, which is really paying attention to this.”

A Texas woman, Abigail Jo Shry, is accused of making a threatening call to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s chambers earlier this month, where she called the judge a racial slur and threatened to kill her and Jackson Lee. , according to court documents.

“You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” Shry said, later adding, “If Trump is not elected in 2024, we are going to kill you, so take it easy.”

Shry’s call came just days after Trump was indicted on federal charges over his efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election and Chutkan was assigned to his case. The former president has repeatedly attacked the federal judge in the weeks since the initial indictment.

Jackson Lee, who announced in March that he would run for mayor of Houston, said Saturday that he had “never seen this kind of outside attack” on the judiciary before.

“The former president called him biased and unfair and gave the inference that he would not handle his case on four counts of conspiracy under the special counsel fairly,” Jackson Lee said.

“And what did that do?” he continued. “Whether someone is sitting on their bed drinking, or however they may be motivated or others may be motivated, they are given a signal that he is wrong and he is not right.”

The Texas Democrat argued that “the temperature needs to be lowered” in the country.

“The former president should actively participate in stopping the hysteria and inciting the people, provoking them to do things that are against the Constitution and the order of this country,” he added. “Law and order must prevail, not only for us, but for him.”