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In the continuation of a troubling trend in US politics, a Georgia man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making death threats against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
The man, Sean Patrick Cirillo, called Greene’s office three times last November and threatened the lawmaker and her staff.
“I got a bead on her. Like a sniper rifle. A sniper rifle. And I’m gonna kill her next week. I’m gonna murder her,” he said on one call.
On another, he told the staffer answering the call that he would kill them as well.
Cirillo now faces up to five years in prison.
“Threatening to kill a public official is reprehensible,” said US Attorney Ryan Buchanan. “Our office will not tolerate any form of violence, threats or intimidation against public officials. The prosecution of individuals who threaten the lives and welfare of public servants is a top priority for our office, as well as for our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.”
It is not just lawmakers who are being threatened.
Just last week, the Department of Justice announced that a man from Alabama pleaded guilty to threatening Arizona election workers.
“We will not normalize violent threats in America, whether targeting elected officials or average citizens,” said Keri Farley, the special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Atlanta. “Our democracy depends on the ability of members of Congress to do their jobs without fearing for their safety. We will continue to prosecute threats against public servants made in any form.”
The Department of Justice will have ample opportunity to do so.
These types of threats have surged since Donald Trump arrived on the political scene and polarized Americans to a degree not known in recent history.
In 2016, members of Congress reported about 1,000 threats made against them. After four years of Trump, and after he concocted the Big Lie, that figure had soared to nearly 10,000 in 2021.
As this case shows, this is a bipartisan problem.
In 2022, about three-quarters of Republicans and Democrats who responded to questions from the publication Roll Call reported that they had received death threats (it should be noted that GOP lawmakers and officials also receive threats for not being sufficiently beholden to Trump).
As WhoWhatWhy reported earlier this year, threats to election workers have also gone up sharply.
Almost 40 percent of local election officials reported that they had experienced threats, harassment, and abuse.
Hopefully, the two guilty pleas announced over the past week will have a chilling effect on Americans who believe that, perhaps through the perceived immunity the Internet affords them, they can threaten lawmakers who don’t support their political views or preferred candidate.
