A New Hampshire woman has been charged for allegedly sending “graphic and extreme” messages to one of two Michigan election officials who resisted certifying the presidential election results from Detroit last month.
Wayne County Republican canvasser Monica Palmer and her GOP colleague William Hartmann voted against certifying the election results showing Democratic Joe Biden won in the state’s most populous county two weeks after the election, citing glaring irregularities. Both eventually voted in favor of certification, and reports make it increasingly clear why that might have happened.
The four-person Wayne County Board of Canvassers needed up deadlocked at 2-2 along party lines on Nov. 17. Palmer and Hartmann were the holdouts, but they were each targeted in a smear campaign.
When Palmer objected to the Wayne County results, she was treated as a social pariah by fellow canvassers and other state Democrats. Just take a look at some of the messages she received for having the audacity to question the election results.
WAYNE COUNTY BOARD OF CANVASSERS – 2 Republican members voted not to certify the ballots- public comment is now open and it is intense. People calling board members racist. This is commenter Ned Staebler: pic.twitter.com/cEsDlxzVXT
— Jennifer Ann Wilson WXYZ (@JennaWils) November 17, 2020
MICHIGAN.🚨
WATCH as Democrat State Rep-Elect Abraham Aiyash threatens the children of Wayne County Board of Canvassers member Monica Palmer.
"I want you to think about what this means for your kids, who probably go to [redacted]"…
*CHILLING*🔻 pic.twitter.com/uX3SRxct6a
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) November 18, 2020
According to the Justice Department, Palmer was also ruthlessly harassed privately by a woman in New Hampshire after she and Hartmann stood up to what they apparently perceived as corruption.
The DOJ announced on Wednesday that a woman named Katelyn Jones had been charged with threatening a female member of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. In a media release, the department accused Jones of sending Palmer, though not by name, threats and even images of dead women.
MLive reported the woman in the DOJ media release is confirmed to be Palmer.
WOMAN ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH MAKING THREATS AGAINST CHAIR OF WAYNE COUNTY BOARD OF CANVASERS https://t.co/cXlUBQeydR
— U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider (@USAO_MIE) December 23, 2020
“According to the affidavit, on November 18, 2020, Jones is alleged to have knowingly and willfully transmitted communications containing threats to injure [Palmer] and her family due to actions [Palmer] took in her official capacity at Chair of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers.The affidavit describes a series of threatening text messages that were sent from a phone alleged to be associated with Jones to [Palmer’s] phone,” the department said.
“In those texts Jones called [Palmer] a racist and a terrorist and used graphic and profane language. It is also alleged that Jones sent [Palmer] two graphic photographs of a bloody, naked, mutilated, dead woman lying on the ground. Immediately following, Jones sent [Palmer] a photograph of AV-1’s minor daughter. [Palmer] also received similar threats on her Instagram account,” the DOJ release added.
Jones was jailed following the complaint. She faces up to 20 years behind bars and up to $250,000 in fines, if convicted.
The DOJ was clear that the threats weren’t taken lightly.
“The allegations in this case should make all of us disgusted,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said. “There is simply no place in Michigan, or in the United States, for chilling threats like this to people who are simply doing what they believe is correct.”
If the Jones indeed sent these messages, as is alleged by the DOJ, it certainly is no surprise at this point. Democrats have tacitly supported political violence, or the threat thereof, all year.
But this is what Democrats have become in their quest to topple, delegitimize and even destroy President Donald Trump and those who support him. The party has been mum since rioting and other political violence broke out nationwide in May. Now, people are apparently so emboldened to use the threat of violence to have their goals met, that they will use that threat as a method for meeting their political ends elections.
In times of more lucidity, that was called terrorism. Now, it’s simply how things are done.
Hartmann, for his part, announced last week that actually he went into hiding after the initial decision to vote against certification. He said he felt so unsafe for challenging the results in Detroit that he hid out at a friend’s home at the direction of police. Hartmann cited no specific threat, but the one Palmer allegedly faced should disgust every voter in this country.
Democrats made clear in 2020 that it would sink to any low to defeat the president. It was only a matter of time before that behavior resulted in what appear to be two brave whistleblowers being targeted by the threat of violence.
Jones is behind bars for her alleged crimes. But the arrest can’t and won’t restore the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections, nor can it reverse the prevalence of what is now a trend of using violence to stifle dissent.