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Text messages appear to blame then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler for death threats
Texts anonymously obtained by the FOX 5 I-Team appear to show the wife of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accusing now-former Sen. Kelly Loeffler of sparking death threats against the Raffensperger family following the 2020 Presidential Election.
ATLANTA - Texts sent to and from then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler's cell phone in late 2020 and early 2021 give a vivid behind-the-scenes look at her battles with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Including one text from Ms. Raffensperger that shows she blamed Loeffler in part for death threats she and her husband received after the election.
In November 2020, American voters picked Joe Biden to be the next president. His margin of victory in Georgia was razor-thin, less than 13,000 votes at the time.
A montage of tweets by President Donald Trump following the election of Joe Biden on Nov. 3, 2020. (Twitter)
Less than a week after Election Day, November 9, 2020, as President Donald Trump tweeted out his challenges to the election results, then-US senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue tweeted out a joint statement blaming Trump's loss in Georgia on Secretary of State Brad Raffesnperger.
They wrote that Georgia elections were fraught with "mismanagement" and that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger "failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately."
READ THE FULL STATEMENT FROM SENS. PERDUE AND LOEFFLER
U.S. Sen. David Purdue (R-GA) speaks to the crowd of supporters during a "Defend the Majority" rally at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agriculture Center on November 19, 2020 in Perry, Georgia. Purdue is facing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate …
"The most troubling thing about it is when threats actually came into my wife's cell phone," Raffensperger told FOX 5 later.
Raffensperger did not step down. The FOX 5 I-Team interviewed Raffensperger soon after the statement was issued, and he described how he and his wife, Tricia, were getting death threats. He shared some of those messages:
"You better not botch the count your life depends on it."
"Your husband deserves to face a firing squad."
"The Raffenspergers should be put on trial for treason and face execution."
However, Raffensperger did not say exactly when or why the threats started.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger holds a press conference on the status of ballot counting on November 6, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2020 presidential race between incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden …
Now, a series of texts linked to then Sen. Kelly Loeffler's phone have been anonymously sent to the FOX 5 I-Team and various other media outlets across the country. The texts reveal that the death threats Mr. Raffensperger described began within hours after Loeffler and Perdue's joint statement.
The night the statement was put out, at 10 p.m., Raffensperger's wife wrote a blistering text to Loeffler
"My family and I am being personally besieged by people threatening our lives because you didn't have the decency or good manners to come and talk to my husband with any questions you may have had.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) reacts to her supporters during an Election Night party at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta In Buckhead on November 03, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Loeffler, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to replace Johnny Isakson at the e …
Tricia Raffensperger went on to describe her husband as "an honorable man with integrity to do the right thing."
She wrote, "I hold you personally responsible for anything that happens to any of my family, from my husband, children and grandchildren."
She concluded with, "What kind of person are you that would purposely do this?"
Neither Raffensperger nor his wife wanted to comment. The FOX 5 I-Team couldn't reach Kelly Loeffler or David Perdue, but in 2021, Raffesnperger said all the attacks, and counter-attacks, and threats aimed at him and others involved in the election process were a mystery.
"Sometimes the Democrats are attacking us. This time all they need to do is buy a box of popcorn and watch this fight," Raffensperger said.