Feds charge Texas man in connection with public call to assassinate Georgia election officials

The Justice Department on Friday charged a Texas man in connection with calling for the assassination of Georgia election officials just before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, sparked largely over the the 2020 presidential election results. 

The case is the first brought by the agency’s Election Threats Task Force, created last summer to address threats against elections and election workers, according to The New York Times. 

Federal prosecutors say Chad Stark, of Leander, Texas, on Jan. 5, 2021, called for "Georgia Patriots" to "put a bullet" in state election officials.

According to the indictment, the 54-year-old Stark made the statement in a post on the online message board Craigslist.

Stark is being charged with one count of communicating interstate threats. 

President Trump narrowly lost Georgia and the 2020 election to Democrat challenger Joe Biden, amid concerns by Trump, his supporters and others about enough possible voting fraud to have decided the outcome of the race. 

"Georgia Patriots it's time for us to take back our state from these Lawless treasonous traitors," he wrote, according to the indictment. "It's time to invoke our Second Amendment right, it's time to put a bullet in the treasonous Chinese [Official A]. Then we work our way down to [Official B] the local and federal corrupt judges."