Pennsylvania Man Charged After Threatening to Murder FBI Agents Over Mar-a-Lago Search
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
By
Frank Konkel
The man was charged after making numerous threats on the social media application Gab.
A Pennsylvania man was arrested Monday for threatening violence against FBI agents following a slew of online posts he made last week, after FBI agents searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
According to court documents, 46-year-old Adam Bies of Mercer, Pennsylvania allegedly authored several posts on the social media platform Gab under the username “BlankFocus,” including, “My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop,” and “If You Work For The FBI Then You Deserve To Die.”
The criminal complaint indicates Bies allegedly issued numerous additional threats on the platform on Aug. 10.
“Every single piece of [expletive] who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their [expletive] toilets deserves to die. You’ve declared war on us and now it's open season on YOU,” Bies wrote, according to the complaint. In another post, Bies allegedly wrote, “HEY FEDS. We the people cannot WAIT to water the trees of liberty with your blood. I’ll be waiting for you to kick down my door.”
The FBI National Threat Operations Section Social Media Exploitation Team received a tip regarding the threats on Aug. 11 from the Domestic Terrorism Threat Monitor. Bies is charged with influencing, impeding or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers, which carries a maximum sentence of up to ten years in prison.
The charges follow an uptick in threats against federal law enforcement after FBI agents recovered ‘highly classified’ documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Monday warning threats to federal law enforcement have increased since the search. In one case, an Ohio man was killed after a vehicle chase and standoff with law enforcement on Aug. 11 after attempting to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati field office. A social media account bearing the man’s name issued a “call to arms” against federal law enforcement on the same day, though law enforcement has yet to verify the account belonged to the man.