Vice President Kamala Harris, right, and US President Joe Biden during an event in upper Marlboro, Maryland, US, on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.
A 37-year-old Tennessee man was charged over alleged social media threats against President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
Kyl Alton Hall was indicted Tuesday on two counts of threatening a sitting president or vice president and one count of a threat to a former president. Each charge could carry a penalty of up to five years in prison, according to the DOJ.
Authorities say the threats originated on the social media platform X. The Memphis-area man allegedly threatened to “kill, assassinate, shoot, and crash the plane” of Biden. He also threatened to assassinate Harris and Obama.
The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case, which will be prosecuted by the national security and civil rights unit in the local U.S. attorney’s office.
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A spokesperson for the Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The charges come the same week that all three officials — Biden, Harris and Obama — appeared in Chicago to speak at the Democratic National Convention, where Harris accepted her party’s presidential nomination.
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