The Department of Justice charged a former Florida congressional candidate for threatening to “call up” his “Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to kill his Republican primary opponent in 2021.
According to the indictment, William Robert Braddock III repeatedly promised to harm and kill now-Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), identified as Victim 1, and another individual present, known as Victim 2, during a phone call. Victim 2 is described as a “private citizen” and “acquaintance” of Luna.
Braddock left the United States shortly after the reported menacing conversation and was ultimately found and arrested in the Philippines in 2023. He was deported from the Southeast Asian country ahead of his first court appearance in Los Angeles on Sept. 27.
On Thursday, he was charged with one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Anna Paulina Luna won was endorsed by Donald Trump and ultimately won the seat for Florida’s 13th congressional district in 2022.
Leah Millis/Reuters
The current investigation into Braddock is a joint effort by the FBI and the St. Petersburg Police Department as part of the department’s election threats task force.
Luna and Braddock both ran in the 2021 Republican primary election in Florida’s 13th congressional district. She went on to win the seat and was endorsed by Donald Trump.
That year, Luna accused Braddock of stalking and threatening to kill her while filing for a permanent restraining order. She and a conservative activist friend of hers, Erin Olszewski, were previously granted a temporary order against the once-congressional hopeful after allegations of threats first surfaced.
During a conversation recorded by Olszewski, Braddock is heard telling her not to support Luna because he had access to assassins.
“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 said in the tape obtained 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.”
Braddock refused to discuss the call with the outlet, said he had not heard the recording, and suggested the recording “may even be altered and edited.”
Luna, however, was ultimately denied a permanent restraining order against her then-political rival.
Aside from the ongoing case involving Braddock, the congresswoman, who is running for reelection in the district, recently claimed her office received a “very serious shooting threat.”
“This division and hate campaign against Republicans is going to get someone killed,” she posted to X on Sept. 18. “I will not be threatened, intimidated, or bow down to those using violence as a means to push their agenda. We will win.”
Luna, a staunch Trump ally, also alleged that she had been doxxed and received threatening packages at her Florida home after her Democratic opponent called her a “threat to democracy.”
