A Republican running for office in Florida was caught on tape threatening to put a hit out on one of his primary opponents, according to a new story from Politico.
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William Braddock and Anna Paulina Luna are both among those running to fill the vacancy left by Charlie Crist as he exits the House of Representatives to run for governor. It’s a crowded race, with five challengers so far, but Braddock is apparently so desperate to knock Luna out of the race that he’s willing to go to extremes to make sure it happens.
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During a conversation that took place last week between Braddock and Erin Olszewski, a conservative figure whose endorsement Braddock wanted, he informed her that he has access to a Ukrainian and Russian hit squad, and warned her that Luna is “gonna go down.”
“I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States,” Braddock said on the recording obtained by Politico. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done.
“Luna is a f—king speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”
Olszewski said she was recording him due to increasingly disconcerting comments he had made during their private conversations, and she wanted to get proof to hand over to police. So when he told her Luna would “be gone” from the race soon, she pushed him to explain exactly how he knew that.
“I call up my Russian and Ukrainian hit squad, and within 24 hours, they’re sending me pictures of her disappearing,” Braddock said. “No, I’m not joking. Like, this is beyond my control at this point.”
Braddock has danced around outright denial of the person on the recording being him, telling Politico that “there is no proof” that it’s him and that it “may even be altered and edited.”
However, he also said he plans on filing paperwork to bring a civil damages suit against “the folks in possession of whatever recording they think they have of myself or someone else” that will also result in felony charges, “because whomever is on the recording did not consent to be recorded in my humble opinion.”
It’s the kind of word salad that one would imagine a lawyer would have advised Braddock not to spew at a journalist, but here we are.
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A Florida Republican named William Braddock was secretly recorded claiming he has “a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” that he will use to kill his political opponents and compares it to “running over a dead squirrel.”
The Republican party is so incredibly fucked up.
— Kyla In The Burgh
(@KylaInTheBurgh) June 17, 2021
“I call my Russian and Ukrainian hit squad and within 24 hours they send me pictures of her disappeared.”—William Braddock, Florida Republican
He MUST be JOKING
“No, I’m not joking.”—William Braddock
— Duty To Warn
(@duty2warn) June 17, 2021
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The St. Petersburg police are currently in possession of the full recording, and both Luna and Olszewski have received a temporary restraining order against Braddock after the call.
*First Published: June 18, 2021, 7:13 am
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