'This has to stop': Michigan official whom Trump said should be executed speaks out against violent threats

On CNN Friday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson slammed the ongoing election lies that are fueling violent threats against elected officials.

This comes after new reporting that former President Donald Trump privately called for Benson to be arrested and executed for treason over his election loss in the state.

"Your opponent, Kristina Karamo, said in the past she felt as an overseer in 2020, an observer, that she had seen some election irregularities," said anchor Erica Hill. "She said, actually, that you should go to jail. She's accused you of election corruption, as we know. What are the conversations happening right now on the ground in Michigan?"

"The conversations I'm having are with our election officials, with law enforcement, with lawmakers, are about how we can protect our democracy, and how we can protect those who run it in times like these," said Benson. "I myself allocated $8 million in security funding for our local election officials and clerks so that they can invest in improvements to the security of our processes, and our staff, and I've also called on our state legislature and lawmakers to increase the penalties for those who threaten election officials, because, again, this has to stop, there is no place for rhetoric like this in our democracy."

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"We should be talking about issues that affect our state, the American people, as opposed to continuing to spread conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election and about the security of our processes," continued Benson.

Karamo, in addition to promoting Trump's "Big Lie" and calling for the arrest of Benson, has claimed the January 6 insurrection was a false flag and has spoken at a QAnon conference.

Watch below:

Jocelyn Benson speaks out after Trump execution demand revealedwww.youtube.com