- A Florida man sent a death threat to Rep.
Ilhan Omar in 2019 using his personal email account. - David Hannon, 67, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of threatening a federal official.
A Florida man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to threatening to kill Rep. Ilhan Omar in emails he sent her office in 2019.
David Hannon, 67, was arrested and pleaded guilty to one count of threatening a federal official with the intent to intimidate, impede, and retaliate against her.
According to Hannon's plea agreement, he sent the threats on July 16, 2019 following a press conference that Omar held addressing President Donald Trump's attacks on her. The plea agreement said that Hannon, a Trump supporter, was upset that Omar "repeated quotes containing curse words from then-president Trump regarding social issues involving women and minorities," leading him to send the threatening message. Hannon faces up to 10 years of prison time, a fine of $250,000, and up to 3 years of supervised release.
"ARE YOU READY TO DIE FOR ISLAM?" Hannon wrote in his threatening email. "ARE YOU READY TO DIE FOR ALLAH? ARE YOU READY TO GET OUT OF OUR COUNTRY! YOU WONT HEAR THE BULLET GOING THROUGH YOUR OR THEIR HEADS! ALL FOUR OF YOU CONGRESS WOMEN WILL DIE AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL CHEER! PATRIOTS AGAINST ISLAM! GOD BLESS AMERICA!"
Hannon also threatened three other unnamed legislators in his email.
"YOU BETTER GET MORE SECURITY," he wrote, "OR WITHIN A WEEK YOU AND THE OTHER THREE RADICAL RATS WILL BE SIX FEET UNDER!"
Hannon sent his threat just two days after Trump attacked Omar and other progressive congresswomen of color, telling them to "go back" to the "broken and crime infested places" they "originally came from."
After Omar's staff reported the threat to federal investigators, an investigation was opened, revealing the email was sent from Hannon's personal iCloud email account, linking him to the crime.
Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a press release that "threatening to kill our elected officials, especially because of their race, ethnicity or religious beliefs, is offensive to our nation's fundamental values."
"The Justice Department will not hesitate to prosecute individuals who violate federal laws that prohibit violent, hate-motivated threats," Clarke said. "All elected officials, regardless of their background, should be able to represent their communities and serve the public free from hate-motivated threats and violence."