A Pennsylvania man appeared in court on Monday after he allegedly threatened to kill FBI staff in response to agents searching Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last week.
Adam Bies of Mercer, north of Pittsburgh, is the first Trump supporter to be charged in connection with an alarming spike in violent threats against federal officials over the Florida FBI search.
The 46-year-old was arrested Friday and charged with influencing, impeding, or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers. If convicted, Bies faces up to 10 years in prison.
According to a criminal complaint against him, the FBI received a tip from a group that monitors far-right extremists online about posts that a user named "BlankFocus" made Thursday on the social media platform Gab.
“My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop," one post read.
“If You Work For The FBI Then You Deserve To Die," another said.
The FBI discovered several other posts from the same user, including one in which he appeared to compare federal law enforcement officers to the Nazi SS and Soviet KGB.
"I sincerely believe that if you work for the FBI, then you deserve to DIE," one post said.
"I already know I’m going to die at the hands of these piece of shit child molesting law enforcement scumbags," another read. "My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop. I will not spend one second of my life in their custody.”
In yet another post, the user said, “Every single piece of shit who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their fucking toilets deserves to die. You’ve declared war on us and now it's open season on YOU.”
He also urged the feds to "come and get me," adding, "I am going to fucking slaughter you."
To determine who was behind the account, investigators submitted an emergency request to Gab for information on the user, which revealed multiple references to an email account connected to a photography website.
The user had written that he used the alias Adam Kenneth Campbell on Gab and for his photography "so that corporate Murica’ can’t google me out of a job."
An IP address provided by Gab also matched Bies's address, as did date of birth information.
An attorney for Bies has not yet been appointed, but court documents say he will be represented by a federal public defender.
A hearing on whether to release Bies from detention is scheduled for Thursday.
Trump is being investigated by the Department of Justice for potential violations of the Espionage Act, mishandling government documents, and obstruction of justice. He allegedly took top-secret documents with him when he left the White House and did not return them when requested.
Much as he did in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the former president has used warlike language to describe the investigation into him as a witch hunt.
Last week, another Trump supporter attacked the FBI's Cincinnati office before being shot dead by authorities.
The man had posted on Truth Social, the Twitter clone established by the former president after being booted from the platform, that he had been trying to avenge Trump.