Florida GOP candidate Anna Paulina Luna was threatened by fellow Republican rival William Braddock with a Russian-Ukrainian “hit squad” in a secret recording.
Politico reports that Braddock, in a conversation recorded before he launched his political career proper, warned a conservative activist not to support Anna Paulina Luna for the Tampa Bay area congressional seat. In fact, he warned that he had access to a “Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” that could make Luna “disappear.”
"I really don't want to have to end anybody's life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” Braddock said in the recording of the conversation, which reportedly went down last week according to Erin Olszewski, the activist who recorded the video. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a fucking speed bump in the road. She's a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”
Shortly after the video of the conversation made its way online, Braddock refused to acknowledge his words in the clip, although maintained “there is no proof” it’s his voice. He also suggested the clip was “altered and edited,” calling the release of the footage “a dirty political tactic that has caused a lot of people a lot of stress and is completely unnecessary.”
The secret recording of their conversation has already been turned over to St. Petersburg, Florida police, and Luna plus Olszewski have already been granted temporary restraining orders against Braddock. “Don't get caught out in public supporting Luna. … Luna’s gonna go down and I hope it's by herself," Braddock told Olszewski.
Throughout the conversation, Olszewski continued to pressure Braddock to explain his comments further. “I call up my Russian and Ukrainian hit squad, and within 24 hours, they're sending me pictures of her disappearing,” he said at one point. “No, I'm not joking. Like, this is beyond my control this point.” When Olszewski asked for more details on this alleged “hit squad,” Braddock said the killers were “Russian mafia” who work “up close and personal so they know that the target has gone.”
Other comments Braddock made during the conversation include bizarre ramblings about getting financial help from overseas, specifically from Malta and Gibraltar. "Don't be associated with Luna under any circumstances. Please. And do not repeat this anybody because both of us will be in jeopardy if you do," said Braddock in the phone call. "I'm not just blowing smoke here. I'm fucking being dead ass serious and it scares the shit out of me, too.”
