FBI: Boehner’s Bartender Thought He Was Evil And Talked Of Poisoning Him

FILE - This July 24, 2014, file photo shows Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama’s request for billions of dollars to deal with t... FILE - This July 24, 2014, file photo shows Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama’s request for billions of dollars to deal with tens of thousands of migrant children streaming across the border set off Democrats and Republicans. Lawmakers in both parties complained that the White House, six years in, still doesn’t get it when it comes to working with Congress. (AP Photo, File) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A former bartender at an Ohio country club frequented by House Speaker John Boehner allegedly thought the Republican was the devil and had threatened to kill him, according to a report Tuesday from WCOP in Cincinnati.

Michael Robert Hoyt, 47, who had worked for five years at the Wetherington Country Club, was indicted last Wednesday for threatening to murder a congressman. WCOP based its report on the charging documents in the case.

The case seems to have started on Oct. 29, when Hoyt called the authorities and blamed Boehner for him being fired from his country club job a week earlier. Federal agents followed up in person, and things took a strange turn.

“Hoyt told the officer he was Jesus Christ and he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola,” United States Capitol Police (USCP) Special Agent Christopher M. Desrosiers said. “Hoyt advised he had a loaded Beretta .380 automatic and he was going to shoot Boehner and take off.”

Hoyt allegedly also emailed Boehner’s wife Debbie, saying: “If I had any intention of hurting Mr. Boehner, I could have poisoned his wine at Wetherington many, many times.”

He described hearing the devil’s voice in his radio, telling him that Boehner was the devil, according to WCOP. Hoyt also reportedly authored a lengthy blog post about the House speaker being the devil.

Hoyt volunteered to be taken to a local medical center for treatment. He had previously been prescribed psychotropic drugs, but stopped taking them, WCOP reported. Investigators found notebooks with “John Boehner” and “Ebola” written in them. Hoyt had allegedly said before he believed Boehner was responsible for the virus.

Boehner told investigators in November that he knew Hoyt was a bartender at the country club, but had nothing negative to say about him.

According to WCOP, Hoyt was indicted because federal investigators view him as a “current and ongoing credible” threat to Boehner’s life.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: