An Iowa man was arrested Thursday on charges of leaving a pair of threatening voicemails for a local election official in Arizona and an official in the state attorney general's office nearly a year after the 2020 election, the Justice Department said.
Mark A. Rissi, of Hiawatha, Iowa, is accused of threatening to hang Clint Hickman, a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Rissi was allegedly leaving a threatening voicemail for an employee in the Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office.
Rissi, 64, was charged with two counts of making a threatening interstate communication and one count of making a threatening phone call.
The case is part of the department's Election Threats Task Force, which was launched in June 2021. It has brought charges against individuals in numerous states.
Hickman, a Republican who attended President Donald Trump's final rally in the state a few days before the 2020 election, was the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, a Republican-controlled and elected board that stood in staunch defense of the county's 2020 election. President Joe Biden won the state of Arizona with a narrow margin.
Rissi left the voicemail for Hickman in September of last year, accusing him of lying about the fairness of the 2020 election.
I am glad that you are standing up for democracy and want to place your hand on the Bible and say that the election was honest and fair, according to a Justice Department news release. When we come to lynch your stupid lying commie expletive, you ll remember that you lied on the expletive Bible, you piece of expletive You re going to die, you piece of expletive We re going to hang you. We're going to hang you. The Justice Department, which redacted the expletives, said the call was made three days after Cyber Ninjas, a cybersecurity firm, released a partisan review of Maricopa County's 2020 election, which had been ordered by the GOP-controlled state Senate.
Hickman said Thursday that he was listening to the voicemail.
I remember where I was when I heard that voicemail. It was chilling. This wasn't a prank call. He said that this was a serious threat to me and my family.
He added that no one should be subjected to this kind of hatred. If we really want to keep our country great, we will do everything we can to denounce threats against election workers and fight the disinformation that imperils our democracy. Rissi left a separate voicemail with an official in Brnovich's office on December 8, 2021 and claimed he was a victim of a crime he described as the theft of the 2020 election, and threatened hanging.
I am a victim of a crime. My family is a victim of a crime. My extended family is a victim of a crime. Rissi said the theft of the 2020 election was the result of a crime that had led to the removal of election fraud data from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors computer system.
If convicted, Rissi could face up to five years in prison for each count of making a threatening interstate communication, and up to two years in prison for the threatening telephone call charge.