Published 13:15 IST, February 12th 2021
'Going to chop your heads off': North Carolina man charged with threatening to kill Biden
A man hailing from North Carolina was, on February 11, charged with making threats to kill US President Joe Biden, as per the federal criminal complaint.
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A man hailing from North Carolina was, on February 11, charged with making threats to kill US President Joe Biden. As per the federal criminal complaint, David Kyle Reeves repeatedly called the White House Switchboard between January 28 and February 1, making threats against Biden and others every time. Following which, he was detained on February 5 for “knowingly and willfully making threats to take the life of and inflict bodily harm upon the President.”
During one of the calls, the 27-year-old even warned that he was “going to kill everyone” and "chop their heads off.” As threats continued a secret service agent contacted Reeves, but he allegedly called back the agent multiple times throughout the day, threatening the President, intelligence officials and others. The complaint cited that Reeves also called the US Capitol police switchboards and communicated similar threats.
Defending himself, Reeves had previously told the Secret Service agent "that he had free speech and did nothing wrong," CNN reported citing an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint. He was presented in the Federal Court on February 11 and has been ordered to remain in custody. As per the US Justice Department, the charge of making a threat against the President of the United States carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Threats against Democrats surge
Last month, a US man who participated in the Capitol riots as charged with threatening to “assassinate” New York Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Garret Miller, a resident of Texas, now faces five criminal charges including knowingly entering in restricted building, making threats, obstructing official proceedings amongst others. In the aftermath, a judge awarded him prison sentence with a bail hearing scheduled for January 25.
According to the court documents, Miller allegedly tweeted "Assassinate AOC". Later, talking to media reporters, Miller’s attorney defended his client saying that he had been charged for an "inappropriate comment" made on Cortez’s Twitter feed in the "heat of the moment". Meanwhile, Cortez also took to Twitter to share the case and quoted Miller, who has previously expressed a desire “incriminate” himself a little. Replying to the same she wrote, “well you did”.
13:18 IST, February 12th 2021