Two FBI agents paid a visit to an investor who criticized a Republican donor on social media on the recommendation of a GOP Senate staffer.
Senate staffer Charles Spry, who was working at the time for Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and now works for Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), sent the FBI a dossier in 2017 about investor Marc Cohodes, who criticized health care executive Parker "Pete" Petit, reported NBC News.
"Congressional offices regularly maintain contact with related federal agencies on behalf of their constituents to ensure their cases are being handled in a timely and competent manner," said Nadgey Louis-Charles, a spokeswoman for Loeffler. "They do not request any specific outcome for these cases."
The 81-year-old Petit, who served as President Donald Trump's finance chairman in Georgia during the 2016 campaign, has since been convicted of securities fraud.
Cohodes publicly criticized Petit's company, MiMedx Group, in 2017, saying he had heard from numerous insiders about the company's questionable practices, and even recommended shorting the company's stock at an investors conference that year.
He also singled out Petit on Twitter, saying he would "bury the little fella in a shoe box" and also tweeted "Guns are Loaded the Safety is Off" in reference to the corporate executive.
Spry said in an email sent Nov. 17, 2017, that he would contact the FBI about Cohodes, and two agents visited his home in California and warned him to stop posting "threatening tweets" about Petit and MiMedx or "there would be consequences."
Isakson also called the FBI on Petit's behalf in November 2017, as the Wall Street Journal reported two years ago.
Cohodes claims he asked the agents to leave but they refused until the country sheriff arrived in response to his call.
He and his attorney insist the tweets weren't threatening and are protected under the first amendment, and Cohodes has sued the FBI and Department of Justice over the matter.
"Isakson operated at the hand of a criminal, and I plan on holding those people accountable," Cohodes said. "What they did was wrong, and it cannot be allowed to go on in this country."
