Trump supporters calling for violence and 'war' against the FBI could face criminal charges for their online vitriol, ex-law enforcement says

• Following the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago, threats against federal agents have spread on the pro-Trump internet
• But those posts can lead to prosecution, a former prosecutor and FBI agent told Insider.

As former President Donald Trump rages against the FBI's search of his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, social media users expressing support for him have flooded online forums with calls for violence against federal agents, vowing "civil war."

But former prosecutors warn that these online threats can lead to real-life consequences — including criminal charges.

"Don't feel like you're going to get away with it if you post using an anonymous username," Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor, told Insider.

A week after the raid at Mar-a-Lago as part of the Department of Justice's investigation into possible mishandling of presidential documents, threats against the FBI are still circulating on far-right forums like The Donald.

One user on Monday morning appeared to suggest that FBI members involved in the raid are "traitors" who must be killed.

After fences were erected outside the FBI headquarters in DC over the weekend, some forum members baselessly speculated there would be a "false flag" incident. Trump's supporters made the same baseless claims of a staged incident after a man identified as Ricky Schiffer tried and failed to break into an FBI field office on Friday. Schiffer himself had previously posted violent messages on Trump's Truth Social app and urged people to kill federal agents.

There are laws against posting credible threats online and law enforcement takes those threats seriously, McQuade said — especially if the threats are specific or made by someone authorities think is violent.

A Pennsylvania man is already facing charges after the FBI said he posted vulgar threats on the social media site Gab.

"Every single piece of shit who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their fucking toilets deserves to die," Adam Bies allegedly posted, according to an FBI affidavit. "You've declared war on us and now it's open season on YOU."

McQuade said that even in cases where the threat isn't prosecutable, "if they think the person might pose a threat of violence they'll go get a visit and try to talk to the person."

Bobby Chacon, a former FBI special agent, said agents have received death threats in the past, but they're still taken seriously since it can be hard to discern what's a legitimate threat.

"The overwhelming majority of people who are saying this on the internet are cowards, or don't have the means to do it, or don't have the fortitude to do it," Chacon said. "I would say that they're not to be worried about, but for those small percentage of people that are a little bit mentally unstable and are going to try to do these things, you don't know where to draw the line so that's the problem."

Elizabeth Neumann, an assistant secretary for counterterrorism with the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration, said it can be difficult to determine where threats are being made.

"The problem with most online conversations is you don't know who or where the user is unless they self-identify," Neumann said. "If there is specific information, like, 'You know, I'm sitting in Florida right now and I think I'm just going to head over to Mar-a-Lago,' then you can call Florida State Police with a heads up. But in most cases, these threats tend to come from people with user names that are not identifiable."

Neumann, now chief strategy officer at Moonshot, a London-based agency that monitors and analyzes online extremism, said the FBI handles many of these cases because they have nationwide jurisdiction.

Still, it takes days, and sometimes even weeks, for the FBI to get a court order and then identify and assess the potential threat, she said.

Social media companies will work with law enforcement

If law enforcement does decide to further investigate a threat, McQuade said social media companies would be forced to turn over information like the name and IP address of a user — even if that person doesn't have any identifying information on their public profile.

"If they get a court order, there's not much they can do about it," McQuade said.

Investigators can also receive private content from the account if they obtain a search warrant that says there's probable cause a crime was committed, McQuade said.

Most social media websites have a process for handling threats and carrying out subpoenas ordered by the court.

Gab, a social media site that many people on the far-right have flocked to for its lenient content moderation policies, wasn't an exception in Bies' case. After an emergency request for information, Gab turned over his subscriber data.

In a statement on Thursday, Gab CEO Andrew Torba said it's the company's policy to comply with law enforcement.

"Using our platform to threaten anyone, including federal law enforcement, is totally unacceptable. When we are notified by law enforcement of potential threats to life and property, we take quick action," Torba said.

A spokesperson for Meta told Insider they have a team that monitors posts across its platforms and looks for content violations, including calls for violence.

Truth Social also states on its website that it complies with law enforcement with court orders to reveal user information, restricting access to accounts, or preserving posts. The website — which is affiliated Trump — didn't respond to Insider's request for comment.

On top of digital threats having the potential to be carried out in the real world, as shown in Ohio, Chacon said the rhetoric can inhibit agents far from Mar-a-Lago from doing their job.

"There are 95% of the FBI agents out there, or more, working cases every day and keeping people safe and upholding the constitution and putting really bad people in jail that have nothing to do with politics," Chacon said.

McQuade also added that threats online reverberate through the lives of every agent in the county.

"If the door gets slammed in their face, or the jury doesn't believe them, this country becomes less safe," McQuade said.