The FBI intercepted a threatening letter Friday morning intended for the staff office of Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, according to a statement from the lieutenant governor’s office.
The letter contained a white powder and was signed “United States Traitor Elimination Army,” the statement said. The FBI seized the letter in Reno, Nevada, where a U.S. Postal Service distribution center is located. Law enforcement is investigating the threat and conducting tests to identify the substance.
“This incident is the latest tactic in a nationwide trend of threats and intimidation against election officials. But we will not be intimidated,” Henderson said. “I am grateful for the swift action of postal workers and law enforcement and the tenacity of election workers who show up every day and do their jobs despite all the rhetoric and risk. We love them. We owe them. They are heroes.”
The FBI has launched an investigation after suspicious packages were sent to election offices in more than 20 states this week, CNN, The Associated Press and Axios reported.
The states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Wyoming, and now Utah.
Cox criticizes political violence
During his PBS press conference on Thursday, Gov. Spencer Cox expressed concern about the rise in threats of political violence in Utah. He said there has been a “significant increase in threats of violence” against Utah officials, Cox said, including himself and his family, and against lawmakers and judges.
“I’m concerned about our country right now — the extremes we’re seeing in political discourse, which of course leads to political violence,” Cox said.
Through July 15, the Utah Statewide Information and Analysis Center has recorded 73 threats against Utah elected officials in 2024. Despite covering only 7½ months of the year, this total far exceeds the 49 threats recorded in 2023 and the 55 incidents recorded in 2022 and 2021.
Threats against members of Congress have increased tenfold in recent years, from 900 in 2016 to nearly 4,000 in Trump’s first year in office, and to more than 9,600 in 2021 after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, reports show.
The number of threat assessment cases filed by the U.S. Capitol Police fell to 7,500 in 2022 before rising again to 8,000 in 2023, the agency reported. Federal judges have also experienced an increase in serious threats against federal judges nationwide — from 179 in 2019 to 457 in 2023. More than 40% of state lawmakers have experienced direct threats in the past three years, according to a national survey.
