MAGA ex-CEO threatens cops with 'piano wire' if they don't lay off his ally: report
Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock and a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has threatened that law enforcement could be killed if they don't stop the case against an elections clerk charged with breaching data equipment to help MAGA.
According to The Washington Post, during a lengthy session on X Spaces, Byrne repeatedly claimed officials prosecuting Tina Peters, the former clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, could face "a piano wire and a blowtorch" if they don't back off.
His comments come amid rising fears of political violence in the wake of the deadly shooting at Trump's Pennsylvania rally earlier this month that left the former president with an ear wound. Byrne acknowledged that his references could be considered felonious threats, according to the Post.
“If you have any brains at all, which I’m not sure they do, they should be throwing in the towel and just surrendering and dropping this case against Tina because those who don’t are going to end up facing a piano wire and a blowtorch before this is over if I have anything to do with it,” said Byrne at one point. “So I know that’s probably another felony, but f--- it — threatening them like that — but there we are.”
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He later tried to claim that he had "obviously" only been speaking metaphorically and had no violent intent.
Byrne, a conspiracy theorist who believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump, has funneled millions of dollars to organizations in battleground states who are laying the groundwork to contest further elections. He has also claimed that he has "naughty evidence" against Jack Smith, the special counsel responsible for two federal prosecutions of Trump.
Peters is charged with breaking into elections equipment as part of a plan to expose purported tampering with votes in the 2020 election. She has already been convicted of obstruction of government operations earlier this year in a separate case, for resisting police officers' attempts to seizean iPad she was accused of using to improperly record court proceedings.