A California man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on charges of threatening Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced Friday.
Mark Schultz, 66, of Chula Vista, made his first court appearance in California on Friday. He was indicted on April 24 and will be arraigned in Atlanta in June, according to the Department of Justice.
According to court documents, Schultz repeatedly posted comments on YouTube livestream videos in October that threatened Willis with violence, including one that said she, "will be killed like a dog."
The indictment detailed more threats Schultz made, including, "FANI WILLIS WILL BE DEAD IN 2024," and other threats using racial slurs.
Willis is leading one of the four major criminal cases against former President Donald Trump and has charged him with felony racketeering and conspiracy charges for working to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. She has faced racist threats since her office began its investigation of Trump.
“Threats of violence against government officials, specifically, threaten the very fabric of our democracy," said Keri Farley, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta field office.
In a statement released by Willis' office, she referenced GOP state Sen. Bill Cowsert, who is leading an investigation of Willis' office.
“On the same day Senator Bill Cowsert had the audacity to question whether an elected African American female District Attorney deserves protection from death threats, the United States Attorney and the FBI announced another indictment of someone who threatened my life," Willis said in the statement.
She added, "I thank US Attorney Ryan Buchanan, his staff and the FBI for believing the life of an African American elected official has value and for their diligent efforts in ensuring the safety of myself, my staff, and our families.”
Willis has been under scrutiny over the last few months due to her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor her office hired to help with the Trump case.
In January, attorneys for Trump and several of his co-defendants accused Willis of improperly financially profiting from her relationship with Wade and sought to have her disqualified from the case.
In March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled Willis could continue prosecuting the case, but she and Wade could not work on it together. Wade resigned from the case shortly after McAfee's decision.
