A Florida man has been arrested for threatening the prominent Democrats Cory Booker, Rashida Tlaib and Eric Swalwell.
According to a criminal complaint issued by the US attorney’s office for the southern district of Florida, John Kless, 49, made phone calls in which he ranted about gun control, immigration, gay people, black people and Muslims including Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota congresswoman who has been the subject of aggressive criticism by Donald Trump.
Kless specifically mentioned the elected officials being killed. He was charged on Friday with making threatening communications, the US attorney said.
The arrest came one week after Trump, following controversial remarks about Omar by a number of Republican politicians and media figures, tweeted a selectively edited video that purported to show Omar being dismissive of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The president was widely criticised for inciting violence against an elected US representative.
With Tlaib, Omar is one of the first two Muslim women sent to Congress. A Somali American who came to the US as a child, she is the first person to wear a hijab in the House chamber.
Two weeks ago, a New York man who professed support for Trump was charged with threatening to kill Omar.
Last weekend, Omar said she had experienced a spike in death threats.
On Tuesday morning, Kless called the Washington offices of Swalwell, a representative from California; Tlaib, a representative from Michigan; and Booker, a senator from New Jersey. He left profanity-laden voicemails for each, the complaint said.
Swalwell, who is white, and Booker, who is black, are running for president.
“The day you come after our guns, motherfucker, is the day you’ll be dead,” Kless said in his message for Swalwell, the US attorney said. Swalwell has focused his campaign on gun control.
Kless is also alleged to have said: “You’re gonna die. You’ll be your deathbed motherfucker along with all the rest of you Democrats. So if you want death motherfucker, keep that shit up.”
According to the complaint, the messages Kless left for Tlaib and Booker seemed to reference the video shared by Trump and Democrats’ response to it.
“You definitely don’t tell our president, Donald Trump, what to say,” Kless said in his message to Tlaib, according to officials.
Tlaib responded to Trump’s tweet swiftly, writing: “Enough is enough. No more silence, with [the New York] Post and now Trump taking Ilhan’s words out of context to incite violence toward her, it’s time for more [Democrats] to speak up. Clearly the GOP is fine with this shameful stunt, but we cannot stand by.”
According to the complaint, Kless called Tlaib “Taliban” and Omar a “towel head” and said of Omar: “You know what, she’s lucky she’s just getting death threats. So are you. All right? You’re lucky they’re just threats, motherfucker. ’Cuz the day when the bell tolls, whore, and this country comes to a war, there will be no more threats.”
He is said to have added that there were “millions of us who hate you motherfuckers, man, for what you done on 9/11” and to have used racial terms in reference to Barack Obama, who he claimed was a Muslim.
Investigators traced the phone number to Kless, who lives in Tamarac, Florida, the complaint said. A spokeswoman for the US attorney said some weapons Kless owned had been seized. He appeared in court on Friday and was released on bond, subject to a GPS monitor and a curfew.
In February, US Capitol police investigated Kless over a message left for the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. According to the complaint, the message concerned “Congress taking away his guns, abortion, illegal immigration and Muslims in Congress”. It was not clear what action, if any, was taken.
Last week, Pelosi asked Capitol police to review security arrangements for Omar.