Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis attends a hearing in the Georgia election interference case on March 1, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia, US. The hearing is to determine whether Willis should be removed from the case due to his association with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. He was hired in the election interference case against former US President Donald Trump.
Alex Schlitz | via reuters
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced Friday that a California man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on charges of threatening Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Mark Schultz, 66, of Chula Vista, made his first court appearance in California on Friday. He was indicted on April 24 and will be arraigned in Atlanta in June, according to the Justice Department.
According to court documents, Schultz repeatedly posted comments on a YouTube livestream video in October threatening Willis with violence, including saying she would be “killed like a dog.”
The indictment details further threats made by Schultz, including “Fanny Willis will be dead in 2024” and other threats using racial slurs.
Willis is leading One of the four major criminal cases against former President Donald Trump And he has been charged with felony murder and conspiracy for working to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. She has been facing racist threats ever since her office began investigating Trump.
“Threats of violence against government officials, in particular, threaten the basic structure of our democracy,” said Kerry Farley, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.
In a statement released by Willis’ office, he referenced GOP state Senator Bill Cowsert, who is leading Test Willis’ office.
Willis said in the statement, “On the same day Senator Bill Cowsert had the audacity to question whether an elected African American female district attorney deserves protection from death threats, the United States Attorney and the FBI took action against someone who “Announced another indictment that threatened my life.” ,
She added, “I thank U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan, his staff, and the FBI for believing that the life of an African American elected official has value and for their hard work in ensuring the safety of me, my staff, and our families.” For efforts.”
Willis has been under scrutiny for the past few months due to her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, after her office appointed a special prosecutor to help with the Trump case.
In January, attorneys for Trump and several of his co-defendants accused Willis of improperly benefiting financially from her relationship with Wade and sought to disqualify her from the case.
In March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee Government Willis could continue to prosecute the case, but she and Wade could not work together on it. Wade resigned from the case shortly after McAfee’s decision.