Rochester, N.Y. - The Rochester woman accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama claims this all a "big misunderstanding."
Christine Wright-Darrisaw, 37, said she even voted for President Obama and is helping in his re-election campaign.
On Wednesday Wright-Darrisaw was back in federal court entering a not guilty plea to an indictment that also charges her with making a false statement to Secret Service agents during the investigation. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Wright-Darrisaw was arrested in March and allegedly made the threatening call to a White House operator in late February.
"I'm a Christian girl, I've been born and raised in church all my life I never left church and I love the President," Wright-Darrisaw said after court while jumping into her detailed explanation.
"My whole family voted for Obama my whole church voted for Obama and that's the gist of it,” she said. “I had been in contact with the White House ever since Bush's Administration regarding my children that had gotten kidnapped and my son, he's been gone for 13 years, I haven't seen him since he was one (and) my family never seen him. My three daughters they got taken as a result of the case that happened with my son and the only thing the courts have been telling me was that they were going to do a copycat crime here in Monroe County of what happened to me in Connecticut with my son. And so I thought, where do I turn? I wasn't getting anywhere with the courts. I wasn't getting anywhere with the lawyers. So I decided to start writing and faxing and calling the White House. So I did get correspondence from Bush's Administration and I did get correspondence from Obama's Administration in which they told me to write them back or call them and give them more information. So that is the gist of the case. Right now I'm still going to court but they wrote me and told me that basically they don't have any evidence that I threatened Obama except for what the operator thought she heard and that there's no real recording of me threatening the President. So I'm a little embarrassed I have to admit."
Wright-Darrisaw later said the kidnapping of her children was the result of actions taken by the foster case and social services system while she was in college in Connecticut.
She said she has worked as a nurse's aide for more than 17 years. She also said she spent time in jail around the time she made the call for matters related to a dispute over a child custody case.
A spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office said they can not comment on evidence in any case.
Wright-Darrisaw believes this is a case of her word against that of the White House operator.
"Why she interpreted whatever she thought she heard that way I have no idea. But for me I know what kind of person I am and like I said I'm a Christian. I've been in church all of my life I would never say anything like that," Wright-Darrisaw said. "I voted for Obama I campaigned for Obama. My whole church voted for him. My whole family voted for him. I got Obama flyers for his campaign for November on my dining room table now, so there's just no way I would say anything like that. I mean the statement that she made I don't even talk like that. Everybody was kind of shocked."
Wright-Darrisaw is due back in court next month. She said she was released from jail without bail four months after her arrest.
