A former congressional candidate was charged by the Justice Department over allegations that he threatened to hire a “Russian-Ukrainian” hit squad to murder his political opponent Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).
The DOJ announced the unsealed indictment Friday, charging 41-year-old William Braddock of St. Petersburg, Florida, with one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person.
Braddock is accused of making “several threats to injure” two victims in a phone call on June 8, 2021 — including one where he threatened to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to murder his political rival.
Though prosecutors did not outright name the victims in the unsealed indictment, at the time Braddock was running against fellow Republican Luna in the 2022 Florida primary and he was allegedly caught on audio calling the lawmaker a “dead squirrel” and “a f—ing speed bump in the road.”
“I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” he was heard saying in the audio, which was reported by Politico.
“That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f—ing speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”
Luna in 2021 had claimed in court documents that Braddock “[was] stalking her and [wanted] her dead.”
Hellbound and Down 