Arthur Ray Hanson II, a 59-year-old Alabama man, was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for threatening a sheriff and district attorney in Georgia over the jail mugshot of former President Donald Trump. He made threats in voicemails to the Fulton County sheriff and district attorney after Trump was booked into jail on state charges in August of 2023. Hanson warned that “bad things” would happen if they took Trump’s mugshot and threatened them with harm if they indicted Trump. He also used racial slurs and expressed Confederate sympathies in the voicemails. Hanson pleaded guilty to transmitting interstate threats and was also ordered to pay a $7,500 fine and be on supervised release for three years. His attorney argued that he was intoxicated and suffering from bipolar disorder when he made the calls, and that he had accepted responsibility for his actions. Prosecutors stated that Hanson had made previous threatening calls and had been warned by the FBI to stop. Despite this warning, he later called a Department of Homeland Security tip line and said the Secretary of Homeland Security should be hanged. Hanson’s actions were condemned by the FBI as threats against public servants and a threat to the democratic process.
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