The Hill reports that an Arizona man is facing prison time for threatening to kill House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
Jan Peter Meister was indicted this past October on federal charges related to an expletive-laden call he made to Washington, D.C. office of the California Democrat.
Details of alleged threat
Meister is alleged to have left Schiff a telephone message in which stated that he would “f—– blow your brains out you f—– piece of s—.” He reportedly used Google to locate Schiff’s office phone number.
The convicted felon explained to law enforcement officials that he never had any intention of acting on his threat and “likely was upset at something that he saw on the news.”
In addition to charges related to the threat itself, Meister is facing gun charges as well, with authorities having found multiple weapons during a search of his home. Federal law prohibits felons from purchasing or possessing firearms.
Threats of physical violence have become increasingly common in recent years, and unfortunately they don’t always prove to be empty.
Scourge of politically-motivated violence
It is worth remembering that in 2017, Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson opened fire on numerous Republican lawmakers and congressional staffers as they participated in baseball practice ahead of an annual charity game.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) was critically wounded when a bullet struck him in the hip, necessitating multiple surgeries and a lengthy hospitalization. Lobbyist Matt Mika sustained multiple gunshot wounds as well, taking rounds to his arms and torso.
The shootout also injured police officers David Bailey and Crystal Griner, and the attack didn’t come to an end until Hodgkinson himself was mortally wounded.
Hodgkinson was a longtime left-wing activist who had worked on the Sanders campaign during the previous year. He was known to have made a series of online posts critical of conservatives prior to his attack on the Virginia baseball diamond.
“I don’t ever again want to hear how great a president [Ronald Reagan] was,” one of Hodgkinson’s posts read. “All he did was give tax breaks to the rich and put the rest of the country (or at least 13.1 percent) out of work. To think the Republican Party can call this man their idol is un-American. It’s all about the money.”
Another of his online screeds accused President Donald Trump of being “a traitor” who “has destroyed our democracy,” adding ominously that “it’s time to destroy Trump.”
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