A man from the US state of Pennsylvania has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill FBI agents following the agency's search of former president Donald Trump's home in Florida last week.
Adam Bies has been charged with influencing, impeding or retaliating against a federal law enforcement officer, a criminal complaint filed in western Pennsylvania on Monday showed.
The arrest comes after the agency issues warnings over increased threats made in retaliation for the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago.
The complaint said that the FBI had received a tip on August 11 from a domestic terrorism threat monitor that stated a user on a far-right social media platform had posted threats against the FBI and law enforcement personnel.
“My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop,” said Mr Bies, who goes by the username “BlankFocus” on the social network Gab.
In a separate post on August 11, Mr Bies compared US agencies to the Nazi SS and Soviet-era KGB.
“I’ll shoot an SS officer in the head just as quick as I’d shoot a KGB officer in the head. Keep that in mind. There are plenty of other letters in the alphabet. Police state scum are police state scum. Period,” Mr Bies wrote.
Gab, a fringe social media platform, provided subscriber information to the FBI following the domestic terror tip.
“It’s perfectly OK for the government to constantly tell you that they intend to murder you, but when we decide we’ve had enough and tell them we are going to slaughter THEM, you get banned from Gab,” Mr Bies wrote and added that Gab had issued him a warning.
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Supporters of former US president Donald Trump gather outside his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, after he said FBI agents raided it. Reuters -
A supporter of Mr Trump holds a flag and an old newspaper outside the former president's Mar-a-Lago home. Reuters -
The FBI searched the estate as part of an investigation into whether the former US leader took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence. The Palm Beach Post / AP -
Despite the January 6 hearings and an FBI raid, some still believe that Mr Trump won the 2020 election. AFP -
Supporters gathered outside Mar-a-Lago in Florida as it was was being searched by FBI agents in what Mr Trump called an act of 'prosecutorial misconduct'. AFP -
Trump supporters in Palm Beach, Florida outside Mar-a-Lago on Monday night. Reuters -
It is claimed that the former US president took documents from the White House and disposed of them at Mar-a-Lago. AFP -
Mr Trump was in New York when the search took place. Reuters -
Mr Trump alleges that no other president has been subjected to such treatment. AFP -
A member of the far-right Proud Boys group outside Mar-a-Lago. Reuters -
Mr Trump compared the FBI raid to Watergate. AFP
Threats against US law enforcement have spiked since classified documents were seized during a court-authorised search of Mr Trump's home.
One of the threats specified in a memo obtained by US media outlets included placing a “so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI headquarters”.
Agents seized 11 sets of classified documents from Mr Trump's home. An unsealed search warrant showed miscellaneous “confidential”, “secret” and “top secret” documents had been taken as well as documents on the “President of France” and Mr Trump's pardon of ally Roger Stone.
The former president and his allies have sought to portray the search as politically motivated. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Mr Trump called for the affidavit the FBI used to carry out the warrant to be released.
The Justice Department has opposed such a measure, saying it is likely to compromise the department's investigation. Prosecutors also cited recent violence against law enforcement agents as another reason not to release the affidavit.
