Katie Hobbs, the Secretary of the Interior of the US state of Arizona, has faced an increase in the number of violent threats over the recent presidential election, she said.
According to her, this is due to disinformation circulated by President Donald Trump to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election results.
Since the election, Trump has been venting his anger on Twitter, where he has made all kinds of baseless allegations of election fraud. While numerous lawsuits to prove this have so far come to nought, polls suggest that Trump is indeed reaping the benefits of complaining about “stolen” elections.
According to a recent poll by Reuters news agency and market researcher Ipsos, about half of Republican voters believe the president.
Hobbs, who as Arizona’s Secretary of the Interior has ultimate responsibility for the state’s elections, calls the threats directed at her family and associates, among other things, “extremely disgusting.” The threats won’t stop Hobbs from doing her job, including formalizing the Arizona election results, she has said.
“There are those, including the president, Congressmen and other elected officeholders, who continue to repeat disinformation and encourage others to mistrust the election results in a way that violates the oath they have taken,” Hobbs said in a statement. “It’s time for this to end. Their words and actions have consequences.”