Political rival of Anna Paulina Luna gets 3 years in prison for threats
TALLAHASSEE — A onetime congressional opponent of Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for threatening to have her killed.
William Braddock, 41, was secretly recorded in 2021 saying he had access to a 'hit squad' and that he could make Luna 'disappear,' according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Braddock briefly ran against Luna in the Republican primary for Congressional District 13 before she was first elected.
According to court evidence, Braddock said he would be the next representative for the district and said Luna was 'ignorant so I don't have a problem taking her out, but I'm not going to do that dirty work myself obviously.'
The St. Petersburg Police Department investigated Braddock's comments in 2021 but initially closed their investigation without any criminal charges. That same year, a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge denied Luna's temporary stalking injunction against Braddock.
At the conclusion of those cases, Braddock flew to Thailand and then settled in the Philippines until he surrendered to authorities there in June 2023.
Upon his return to the United States in 2024, he was federally charged with interstate transmission of a threat to injure, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Luna has since won election and reelection to office as the representative for Florida's 13th Congressional District.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
36 minutes ago
- The Hill
Schumer says 16 Republicans have ‘discomfort' with green tax credit rollbacks
Democrats are working to convince some 16 of their Republican colleagues to oppose the GOP's policy bill because of its rollbacks to climate-friendly tax credits, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday. 'We have a group…of seven or eight Democrats who are talking to their Republican colleagues…and we're getting some vibes that people realize this bill went too far and we're hoping they can all go together to [Majority Leader] John Thune and to [Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike] Crapo and say 'change it. We can't be for it the way it is,' Schumer told reporters Wednesday. 'We have a list of 16 Republican senators who have shown some discomfort with this and that's the main group we're focused on,' he added. The version of the 'big, beautiful bill' passed by Republicans makes major cuts to tax credits for climate-friendly energy sources, making it so that any project that is not already under construction within 60 days of the law's enactment is ineligible for the tax credits. This provision, among others, is expected to bar many projects from eligibility and could ultimately lead to less low-carbon energy development. At least some Republicans have publicly expressed skepticism of a rapid end to the credits with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Curtis (R-Utah) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) warning against a 'full scale' repeal. However, House Republicans who have championed the cuts are pushing for them to stay in their current form, with members of the Freedom Caucus board recently saying it will 'not accept' changes that water down the cuts.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump is expected to sign a measure blocking California's nation-leading vehicle emissions rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign a measure Thursday that blocks California's first-in-the-nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, a White House official told The Associated Press. The resolution Trump plans to sign, which Congress approved last month, aims to quash the country's most aggressive attempt to phase out gas-powered cars. He also plans to approve measures to overturn state policies curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. The timing of the signing was confirmed Wednesday by a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share plans not yet public. The development comes as the Republican president is mired in a clash with California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, over Trump's move to deploy troops to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests. It's the latest in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and heavily Democratic California over everything from tariffs to the rights of LGBTQ+ youth and funding for electric vehicle chargers. According to the official, Trump is expected to sign resolutions that block California's rule phasing out gas-powered cars and ending the sale of new ones by 2035. He will also kill rules that phase out the sale of medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles and cut tailpipe emissions from trucks. The president is scheduled to sign the measures and make remarks during an event at the White House on Thursday morning. Newsom, who is considered a likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, and California officials contend that what the federal government is doing is illegal and said the state plans to sue. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin are expected to attend, along with members of Congress and representatives from the energy, trucking and gas station industries. California, which has some of the nation's worst air pollution, has been able to seek waivers for decades from the EPA allowing it to adopt stricter emissions standards than the federal government. In his first term, Trump revoked California's ability to enforce its standards, but President Joe Biden reinstated it in 2022. Trump has not yet sought to revoke it again. Republicans have long criticized those waivers and earlier this year opted to use the Congressional Review Act, a law aimed at improving congressional oversight of actions by federal agencies, to try to block the rules. That's despite a finding from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, that California's standards cannot legally be blocked using the Congressional Review Act. The Senate parliamentarian agreed with that finding. California, which makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, has significant power to sway trends in the auto industry. About a dozen states signed on to adopt California's rule phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars. The National Automobile Dealers Association supported the federal government's move to block California's ban on gas-powered cars, saying Congress should decide on such a national issue, not the state. The American Trucking Associations said the rules were not feasible and celebrated Congress' move to block them. Chris Spear, the CEO of the American Trucking Associations, said in a statement Wednesday: 'This is not the United States of California.' ___ Austin reported from Sacramento, Calif.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Musk called Trump Monday night before expressing regret for harshest criticism of the president
Elon Musk called President Donald Trump Monday night, two sources told CNN, before saying early Wednesday that he regrets some of his social media posts about the president during their very public blow-up last week. The call with the president, which lasted just moments, came after Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles spoke by phone with Musk on Friday, when which the three discussed the feud between Trump and the tech billionaire, two sources familiar with the discussion told CNN. Musk backed off from his attacks following the phone calls, deleting his most critical social media posts about the president — including the one relating to Jeffrey Epstein and another agreeing with the suggestion that Trump should be impeached. On Wednesday, Musk went even further, writing on X that he some of the posts 'went too far.' 'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,' he wrote on X. The New York Times first reported the Monday phone call and The Wall Street Journal first reported the Friday call. CNN has reached out to a spokesperson for Musk. Republican lawmakers and high-profile Trump allies have spent the last week quietly reaching out to Musk, urging him to not only reconcile with the president, but also support his domestic policy bill. During Musk's time as Trump's 'first buddy,' many of the president's closest advisers formed their own relationships with the tech billionaire, which they leaned on after the messy public break-up between the two men to try and bring Musk back around. Through text messages and phone calls with Musk, these Trump allies have sought to deescalate the feud and explain the necessity for what Trump calls his 'Big Beautiful Bill,' which faces hurdles in the Senate. Sources familiar with these interactions said Musk was receptive to outreach but still pushed back on there not being enough spending cuts in the legislation. On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that he was in touch with Musk and was 'trying to be a peacemaker' between him and the president. 'I think the temperature's being turned down, and I'm very hopeful that these two will reconcile,' the Louisiana Republican said. While the two billionaires are seemingly on the path to reconciliation after Musk called Trump, many close to the president would still like to see Musk come out in favor of the bill. 'He has real concerns, but we're all hoping he comes around. His words carry a lot of weight,' one of the sources said. The Friday call with Musk came after Vance had asked the president last week how he wanted him to publicly handle the feud, especially given Vance was slated to do an interview with conservative podcast host Theo Von hours later, one of the sources told CNN. Trump urged Vance to be diplomatic, the source said. The sources familiar with the discussion told CNN that by the time Wiles and Vance got on the phone with Musk, it appeared Trump and the Tesla founder had already begun to deescalate their feud. 'Musk appeared to already be backing off at that point, and the president wasn't as pissed by then as he was the day before,' one of the sources said. White House officials have since left the door open to the possibility the two men will eventually repair their relationship. While at first it appeared Musk's attacks may have been an irrevocable break in their alliance, the president has internally not been as harsh toward Musk in recent days as some had previously expected, they said. Vance had recorded the Theo Von podcast on Thursday, which was then released on Saturday. During that recording, the vice president said he thought it was a 'huge mistake' for Musk to go after Trump the way he had, but that he hoped Musk 'comes back into the fold.' 'I actually think that if Elon chilled out a little bit everything would be fine,' Vance said. After last week's very public blow-up between Trump and Musk, the tech billionaire began inching back toward Trump over the weekend, as unrest and protests of immigration raids began roiling Los Angeles. Musk appeared to support the Trump administration's stance on the situation in Los Angeles, adding American flags to a post from Vance about how the 'president will not tolerate rioting and violence.' Musk has long supported closed borders, stopping illegal immigration, and deportations, in alignment with the administration. And Musk posted a screenshot of a Trump Truth Social post that said California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass 'should apologize to the people of Los Angeles.' This week, he also re-followed White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and conservative podcaster and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, proponents of the domestic policy bill whom he had unfollowed amid the fight with Trump. Kirk had been publicly calling on Musk and Trump to reconcile. 'I know both these guys … I am hopeful, optimistic and will do everything I possibly can to try and bring this back together,' Kirk told Megyn Kelly on Tuesday, adding he expected them to make up. Musk's message of regret in the early hours of Wednesday appears to have reached the president, who told The New York Post in a brief phone interview, 'I thought it was very nice that he did that.' This story and headline have been updated with additional reporting.
