Law enforcement officials in the state of Arkansas arrested Diamond Arnold-Johnson, the Democrat nominee for Arkansas auditor, on Friday for first-degree terroristic threats.
Arnold-Johnson’s husband was on trial in August for allegedly posting terroristic threats on Facebook, police said. During the trial, Arnold-Johnson, 32, admitted that she, not her husband, posted the threatening messages on Facebook that led to the criminal charges, KATV reported.
A warrant was served for Arnold-Johnson’s arrest on October 13, but she refused to comply and a SWAT team was dispatched to resolve the matter.
However, police made the decision to cancel using the SWAT team to force compliance from Arnold-Johnson in an apparent attempt to not risk an explosive situation happening right before an election.
“The situation continued to intensify and the decision was made not to escalate a non-violent situation, only to serve a non-violent warrant,” police said.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas responded to the news by saying that people needed to be held accountable for their actions.
“Earlier today, we were made aware that Diamond Arnold-Johnson was arrested by Little Rock Police. Everyone has the right to due process; however, our Party firmly believes people must be held accountable for any criminal behavior, especially candidates for public office,” the party said in a statement. “The Democratic Party of Arkansas did not recruit her to run for Auditor of State, and we cannot bar her from running for this position. We remain focused on working for a better Arkansas and winning races across the state.”
Dennis Milligan, the Republican candidate running for Auditor of State, called for Arnold-Johnson to drop out of the race in a statement posted on Saturday, saying that she “is unfit to hold the office.”
“I feel it is in the best interest of the people of this state that she withdraw her nomination,” he said. “If she chooses not to do so, then I would call on the state Democrat Party to repudiate and distance themselves from her as their nominee for Auditor of State.”
“Anyone who has an active felony warrant for their arrest should not be running for office or handling the state’s very important financial business,” he continued. “In our debate on Arkansas PBS and in her written responses to the Democrat Gazette, Mrs. Arnold-Johnson talks about being ‘transparent and ethical.’ Where was her ethics or transparency in not coming forward and telling the citizens of Arkansas of her past involvement with law enforcement and past convictions?”