The FBI and DHS put out a bulletin last week announcing that the agencies were fielding a significant uptick in violent threats being made against federal law enforcement, courts and government employees and buildings in general. Some of those targeted by the “unprecedented” surge in threats were the agents and officials listed in court records as being involved in the raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence a week ago.
Names of at least two agents who signed off on warrant-related paperwork have been circulating online for several days, adding to the specificity of the uptick in threats against the bureau as a whole. That, of course, could’ve been prevented if someone — presumably Donald Trump — hadn’t leaked unredacted versions of the warrant before it was officially unsealed, with names redacted, on Friday.
The bulletin warned that the threats were “occurring primarily online and across multiple platforms, including social media sites, web forums, video sharing platforms, and image boards.”
At least one person has been arrested for these specific types of online attacks in recent days.
Today The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on a man in Pennsylvania who was arrested and charged in U.S District Court with “influencing, impeding or retaliating” against federal law enforcement agents. He allegedly posted incredibly graphic threats about murdering FBI agents on his social media, according to the Post-Gazette. The man, Adam Bies, is currently in custody and had an initial hearing this afternoon before a federal judge.
Bies, reportedly angered by the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago last week, allegedly threatened to “slaughter” federal officers and compared the FBI to Nazi secret police and the KBG. He also allegedly posted that everyone who works for the FBI deserves to be murdered and vowed to never be taken into custody by federal agents.
“My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop,” he wrote on Thursday. “I will not spend one second of my life in their custody.”
That vow, of course, didn’t have much of a shelf life.
Bies made most of the violent posts under the username “BlankFocus,” according to the Post-Gazette, on the anti-Semitic, far-right social media platform called Gab. Some of his threatening messages reportedly centered on shooting agents “in the head,” suggesting that “if you work for the FBI, then you deserve to DIE” and that Americans “cannot WAIT to water the trees of liberty with your blood,” referring to federal agents.
A domestic terrorism tip group reportedly flagged Bies’ posts to the FBI on Thursday last week, the same day that a man died in a standoff with police in Ohio after he allegedly attempted to attack the FBI’s field office in Cincinnati. The motive in that case is still unclear, but the deceased suspect’s social media revealed he was a Trump supporter who posted a lot of extremist content and was angered by the FBI raid at Trump’s Florida residence. He also reportedly had ties to extremist groups and was at the Jan. 6 insurrection.
While Bies’ Gab account was under the name “Adam Campbell” — which feds allege was an alias name that Bies posted under “so that corporate Murica’ can’t google me out of a job” — the FBI was able to track him down and arrest him through his IP address.
The Best Of TPM Today
Here’s what you should read this evening:
The latest from Josh Kovensky: DOJ: Release Of Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Would Endanger Witnesses
And: Timeline: How Trump’s Effort To Hold Onto Federal Records Gradually Became Public
DOJ Subpoenas Trump WH Lawyer Eric Herschmann In Jan. 6 Probe
NYT: Giuliani Is A Target In Fulton County Probe
Sign up for our voting rights newsletter here: The Franchise: The ‘Election Integrity’ Two-Step
Judge Rejects Graham’s Motion To Quash Fulton County Subpoena
Bolton Says Trump’s Full Of It With ‘Standing Order’ Declassification Claim
In case you missed it this morning: Inside Trump Promises To Match Donor Contributions By Eyebrow-Raising Amounts
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Schiff Dismisses Trump’s ‘Absurd’ Claim Of Declassifying Docs Seized By FBI — Summer Concepcion
What We Are Reading
Senate G.O.P. Campaign Arm Slashes TV Ad Buys in Three States — Shane Goldmacher
Nebraska cops used Facebook messages to investigate an alleged illegal abortion — Martin Kaste
Trump Executive Nears Plea Deal With Manhattan Prosecutors — Ben Protess, William K. Rashbaum and Jonah E. Bromwich
