The FBI has charged a Philadelphia man with threatening to shoot Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
Special Agents went to the apartment of Dmitry Dyatlov, 23, Aug. 2, after being alerted by the U.S. Capitol Police of a blog Dyatlov had posted a day earlier, threatening to murder Lieberman, according to court documents.
"Actually, there is, at least, one Jew, who we absolutely must shoot in the face (many times), ASAP: Joe Lieberman," Dyatlov allegedly wrote in the blog.
A co-worker alerted authorities to the blog post after Dyatlov stopped showing up for work as a Information Technology specialist with Accenture Consulting. Dyatlov came to the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 1998. He is now a U.S. citizen.
Dyatlov admitted to writing the blog to the FBI agents that showed up at his Philadelphia apartment, according to Special Agent Steve McQueen. When asked what his issue with Lieberman was, Dyatlov replied he hated him, court documents stated. Dyatlov told the agents he had no plans to carry out the threat, but did not care if someone else killed Lieberman, McQueen said.
He went on to tell the agents he felt Lieberman should not be a member of the Senate Security Committee, and that Lieberman's position on the Committee put the Senator in a position to hurt many people, according to court documents. Lieberman is in fact the Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
According to court documents, Dyatlov had more to say to the agents before they finished the interview. "I'm gonna leave you gentlemen with a final thought. In order to fix the system you sometimes need to break the system." Agents asked Dyatlov if he said that as a threat. "It is what it is," he replied. After asking again, Dyatlov said he didn't mean it to be a threat, according to McQueen.
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Dyatlov was being held after a bail hearing Tuesday, but was expected to be released after being fitted with an electronic monitoring device, according to federal authorities.
A spokesperson for Sen. Lieberman's office said he would have no comment on the arrest.
