Police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly sending threatening messages to director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and her husband.
The DOJ announced the arrest of Aliakbar Mohammed Amin on Monday, saying he had sent threatening text messages to Gabbard between March 29 and April 1.
The threats included Amin allegedly writing, ‘You and your family are going to die soon’ and ‘I will personally do the job if necessary.’
‘Death to America means death to America literally, Tulsi is living on borrowed time,’ another text read.
‘The home you two own in Texas is a legitimate target and will be hit at a time and place of our choosing,’ another said.
‘Prepare to die, you, Tulsi, and everyone you hold dear. America will burn,’ Amin allegedly wrote in another text.
‘Threatening to harm public officials is a criminal act that cannot be excused as political discourse,’ Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. said in a statement regarding the arrest. ‘Our Office, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously prosecute individuals who commit these acts of violence.’
Police apprehended Amin in Lilburn, Georgia, on April 11. He faces charges of transmitting interstate threats to injure Gabbard.
‘The FBI sees all threatening communications as a serious federal offense. We will employ every investigative tool and resource available to identify those responsible and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,’ said Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. ‘Let this arrest serve as a clear warning: if you engage in this kind of criminal behavior, you will be caught and you will go to prison.’
Federal agents say they also discovered similar threats allegedly made by Amin in social media posts, including an image depicting a firearm pointed at a photograph of Gabbard, and a second image of a firearm pointed at a photograph of Gabbard and her husband.
Federal agents recovered a firearm while executing a warrant to search Amin’s home.