The FBI arrested James W. Clark of Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Friday for allegedly threatening to detonate a bomb in Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ “personal space” if the Democrat did not resign. in the weeks following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, according to NBC Boston.
According to the indictment against him, Clark searched for “how to kill” Hobbs in February 2021. The 38-year-old also allegedly searched online for “fema Boston marathon bombing” and “fema Boston marathon bombing plan digital army” before to send the Arizona Electoral Division. a criminal threat via their online contact form.
“Your Attorney General must resign by Tuesday, February 16 at 9 a.m. or the explosive device hit in his personal space will be detonated,” Clark wrote, according to prosecutors.
The threat was sent on February 21, 2021 and appears to have been made following Hobbs’ role in certifying the 2020 presidential election. Former President Donald Trump infamously maintained that it was stolen despite dozens of state and federal judges dismissing his lawsuits.
“All of us here today don’t want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical left Democrats, which they are doing,” Trump said in his Jan. 6 speech before the Capitol riots, according to NPR. “And stolen by fake media. This is what they did and what they are doing. We will never give up, we will never give in.”
Although she received hundreds of threats on some days and none on others, the harassment comes and goes, Clark was the only bomb threat she received, Hobbs spokeswoman Murphy Hebert said. , at NBC Boston.
“The FBI takes all life-threatening matters very seriously,” said Chris Ormerod, the acting special agent in charge of the Phoenix field office. “While this arrest demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to holding accountable anyone who tries to intimidate a public official, it also shows that people cannot threaten others with violence and physical abuse without repercussions.”
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Trump lost to then-presidential candidate Joe Biden by more than 10,000 votes in Arizona.
It remains unclear if Clark has found an attorney or if he remains in custody following Friday’s arrest.
If convicted of making a bomb threat, Clark faces up to 10 years in prison. According to the three-count indictment, he was also charged with one count of communicating an interstate threat and one count of committing a bomb hoax. , each punishable by up to five years.
Intelligence agencies and election officials across the country continue to receive similar threats, Hobbs said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland even formed an Election Threats Task Force in June 2021 to further investigate these activities.
“Election officials across the country are routinely threatened for doing their jobs,” Hobbs said in a statement Friday, according to NBC News. “This is unacceptable and undermines our democracy. This harassment will not be tolerated and cannot be normalized. We thank the FBI for their persistence in further investigating this incident.
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