Florida man threatened political rival with Russian-Ukrainian strike team: DOJ

The Justice Department has accused Republican Anna Paulina Luna’s former primary opponent of Florida of threatening to send a “Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to kill his political rival.

William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was charged with threatening to kill his primary opponent in the 2021 election to Florida’s 13th Congressional District and with being a private citizen and an acquaintance of his opponent, the Department of Justice announced Friday. The indictment, unsealed Thursday in the Middle District of Florida, describes the targeted individuals as “Victim 1” and “Victim 2.”

On June 8, 2021, prosecutors say Braddock allegedly made several threats of injury and death to his primary opponent during a phone call to his second victim, specifically stating that he would “call my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to make the rival candidate disappear. The Justice Department said Braddock left the United States after making the alleged threats and was later found to be in the Philippines.

Braddock was recently deported from the Philippines to the United States and made his first court appearance in Los Angeles on Thursday.

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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna attends a campaign rally for former President Trump at the Aero Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 21, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Luna, an Air Force veteran and former media consultant, was not named in the indictment. However, while running for Congress, Luna alleged in 2021 civil court documents that Braddock, another GOP challenger and former Marine, was stalking her and wanted her dead.

A judge granted Luna and her conservative activist and friend Erin Olszewski a temporary restraining order against Braddock. He then withdrew from the race, denying the allegations and citing the publicity of the case.

Politico reported at the time that Olszewski secretly recorded a phone call with Braddock in which he said an alleged “Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” could kill Luna within 24 hours. “Luna is going to fall and I hope she does it on her own,” Braddock allegedly said in the recording, according to Politico, which said it obtained the recording in June 2021. “For the good of the most people, we have to sacrifice these few.”

Then, in a text message to Politico, Braddock reportedly said the tape “may even be altered and edited” and that he could bring civil lawsuits and criminal charges against those in possession of the recording.

In legal proceedings over whether the restraining order would be made permanent, Luna, twice endorsed by former President Trump, testified that she only had brief personal contact with Braddock at a political event but had heard from several friends that he was him allegedly threatening to kill her.

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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 17, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Mr. Braddock clearly hated my courage and wanted to hurt me,” Luna stated in court, according to The Associated Press. “I started to be very afraid of him. It was terrifying and it still is.”

“I think he’s a bad person,” she said in September 2021. “I think he definitely emotionally terrorized me.”

Olszewski testified that she secretly recorded a telephone conversation she initiated with Braddock in which he allegedly claimed that an alleged Russian-Ukrainian hit squad would respond quickly if she made even one call, and also allegedly made veiled threats to her three children if he will repeat what he said. Olszewski said she shared with Luna the contents of the conversation with Braddock, which she recorded on her iPad, and then both women called the police.

In a new indictment unsealed last week, Braddock is charged with one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the prosecutor said.

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The case was brought in connection with the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 to address violent threats against election workers.

Fox News Digital reached out to Luna’s office for comment on Sunday but did not immediately receive a response. A spokeswoman for the GOP congresswoman declined to comment to NBC News on the indictment, but said Luna “has faced an increasing number of death threats over the past month,” signaling a “broader and more disturbing problem of violence in the political arena.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.