The Georgia man was arrested Monday on charges of communicating the threat of interstate commerce in connection with threats of sexual violence against Texas’ Republican Sense and Nebraska’s Deb Fisher, federal prosecutors said.
Robert Davis Forney of Duluth left Voicemail in January, threatening sexual violence against two senators, the US lawyers’ office in the Northern District of Georgia. Forney, 25, has been accused of threatening Cruz’s family.
Forney’s arrest before a US magistrate judge was indicted by Georgia’s federal jury, according to prosecutors.
Cruz and Fisher spokesmouth did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday night.
Theodore S. Hertzberg, a US lawyer for the Northern District of Georgia, condemned political violence against elected officials in a statement.
“Treating elected officials and their families is an act of violence that undermines our entire democracy,” Hertzberg said. “Political discourse and disagreement never justifies relying on vile attacks on our country’s leaders.”
Special agent for FBI Atlanta, Paul Brown, proposed similar sentiment, saying “there is no place for political violence or threats to violence in the United States.”
The Capitol Police, which also investigated the incident, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
This arrest follows a growing trend in political violence against elected officials.
The Minnesota man was taken into custody Sunday night in connection with the fatal shooting of a Democrat of Melissa Hortman and her husband, injuring another Democratic state legislator and his wife, what authorities called a “political motivation” attack.
Capitol Police said in February that threat assessment cases rose for the second year in a row in 2024, highlighting last year’s statements and 9,474 investigations of direct threats and 8,008 threats in 2023.
Following Saturday’s attack on Minnesota, the Senate is holding a full briefing on Tuesday, focusing on lawmakers’ security.
