U.S. federal authorities have arrested a man accused of sending dozens of threatening and violent messages to public officials he viewed as hostile to President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda, charging him with threatening a member of Congress. Geoffrey Giglio, a Trump supporter who has previously been questioned by at least four federal law enforcement agencies over similar conduct, was charged this week with threatening a member of U.S. Congress, transmitting interstate threats and making anonymous harassing communications, according to a federal complaint. The charges stem from violent and profane messages Giglio allegedly left for U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat and frequent Trump critic. According to the complaint, Giglio left a voicemail for Swalwell in March warning, \u201cIf you want to keep fighting, then we will come get you.\u201d He referenced a .308 caliber rifle, saying, \u201cI\u2019ll just set up behind my .308 and I\u2019ll do my job,\u201d and ended the message with sexually expl
icit remarks about Swalwell\u2019s wife. In a follow-up call to Swalwell\u2019s office in mid-June, after already being questioned by the FBI, Giglio told a staff intern, \u201cTell Eric Swalwell that we are coming and that we are going to handle everyone. We are going to hurt everyone,\u201d according to the complaint. The complaint also details threats Giglio made to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, and to an FBI agent investigating the matter. In a message to Benson, he said, \u201cWe are coming for you,\u201d using explicit language and threatening to \u201cput her in a hole.\u201d Giglio acknowledged sending the message during a June 3 interview with the FBI, the complaint said. On June 26, the day before his arrest, Giglio sent several hostile messages to the FBI agent, writing, \u201cNow I\u2019m coming for you.\u201d the complaint said. Giglio was arrested in California but was not charged over the threats to Benson or the FBI agent, the complaint said. The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Northern Distri
ct of California, which is prosecuting the case, and the FBI declined to comment. A public defender listed in court records as representing Giglio did not respond to requests for comment. The offices of Swalwell and Benson also did not immediately respond. The White House condemned the threats against Swalwell. “As a survivor of multiple assassination attempts, the president takes these matters extremely seriously,\u201d said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields. \u201cAnyone engaging in such behavior will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” The complaint cites a 2024 Reuters investigation that identified Giglio as a persistent source of threats against public officials, including judges, lawmakers and state election officials. Despite multiple investigations by federal agencies, including the FBI and the Secret Service, Giglio had not previously been charged, as his messages often stopped short of the legal threshold for prosecution under the First Amendment, a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. federal authorities have arrested a man accused of sending dozens of threatening and violent messages to public officials he viewed as hostile to President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda, charging him with threatening a member of Congress. Geoffrey Giglio, a Trump supporter who has previously been questioned by at least four federal law enforcement agencies over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n