A man from Georgia was prosecuted on Monday by positions to communicate threats in interstate trade in relation to threats of sexual violence against republican sensations Ted Cruz de Texas and Deb Fischer de Nebraska, federal prosecutors said.
Robert Davis Forney, 25, of Duluth, left voice messages in January threatening sexual violence against the two senators, according to the United States Prosecutor’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. He is also accused of threatening Cruz’s family.
A Federal Grand Jury in Georgia accused him last week, prosecutors said.
Cruz and Fischer spokesmen did not immediately respond to comments requests on Monday night.
The American prosecutor Theodore S. Hertzberg condemned political violence against elected officials in a statement.
“Threatening our elected officials and their families is an act of violence that undermines all our democracy,” said Hertzberg. “Political discourse and disagreements never justify resorting to vile attacks against the leaders of our nation.”
The special agent of FBI Atlanta, Paul Brown, offered a similar feeling, saying in a statement that “there is no place for political violence or threats of violence in the United States.”
The United States Capitol Police, which is also investigating the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Monday night.
Reading charges follows a growing trend of political violence against elected officials.
A Minnesota man was arrested Sunday night in relation to the fatal shooting of the Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and his husband. Another democratic state legislator and his wife were also injured in what the authorities have called “politically motivated” attacks.
The Capitol Police said in February that the number of threat assessment cases grew for the second consecutive year last year, highlighting their investigations of 9,474 on direct statements and threats against the members of Congress, their families and staff members last year and 8,008 threats in 2023.
“The men and women of the United States Capitol Police work 24 hours to investigate thousands of cases of threats every year, a number that only seems to be growing,” said the interim chief of the United States Capitol, Sean Gallagher, in a statement on Monday. “The mission of our department to protect the members of Congress is critical and we will not tolerate any threat to their safety.”
After the attacks on Saturday in Minnesota, the Senate celebrates an informative session of all members on Tuesday focused on security for legislators.
