|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A young man from Pennsylvania accepted a plea deal in federal court on Friday for threatening to kill Tri-Valley Congressman Eric Swalwell in a series of “terrifying” phone calls two months ago.
Joshua Hall faces a maximum of five years in prison after pleading guilty for the threatening calls across state lines that prosecutors say occurred while the 23-year-old man from Mechanicsburg, Penn., was out of custody pending sentencing after admitting to wire fraud for impersonating then-President Donald Trump’s family members online to trick people into donating money to a fake political organization.
“I am deeply grateful to the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police, Yonkers Police Department, and the U.S. Department of Justice for taking these threats — and the safety of me and my staff seriously — and for seeking accountability,” Rep. Swalwell (D-Livermore) said in a statement.
“Politics can be polarizing, but we must never normalize or tolerate death threats. Today, MAGA political violence is at peak level in America and it’s going to get someone killed. I urge GOP leaders to denounce the violence,” Swalwell added.
The plea deal for the threats against Swalwell and his office came on the same day that Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), was seriously injured in an assault by a Richmond man whom authorities say broke into the couple’s San Francisco home around 2 a.m. Friday seeking to kidnap and injure Speaker Pelosi — who was in Washington, D.C. at the time — and hit 82-year-old Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer.
Swalwell has become a lightning rod figure of sorts in the U.S. House of Representatives in recent years as a vocal critic of congressional Republicans, Trump and his supporters.
The Tri-Valley Democrat, who was raised in Dublin, sued the former president and others including Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) in 2021 for inciting the violence in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The civil case is set for oral arguments in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 7.
“Joshua Hall made terrifying threats to the staff of a United States Congressman whom he disliked rather than attempting to effect change through any of the freedoms of expression that all Americans enjoy,” said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted the case against Hall.
“These threats of violence endanger our public officials and thwart common decency, which is why this Office will continue to prosecute crimes like those committed by Joshua Hall,” Williams added.
According to prosecutors, Hall made a series of calls from the Yonkers, N.Y., area on Aug. 29 to congressman’s office and “conveyed threats to kill the congressman to at least three different members of the congressman’s staff”. The federal press release did not identify the victim, but Swalwell confirmed he was the targeted congressman in question.
In one exchange with Swalwell’s staff, Hall stated “that he had a lot of AR-15s; that he wanted to shoot the congressman; that he intended to come to the congressman’s office with firearms; and that if he saw the congressman, he would kill him,” according to prosecutors.
Hall also threatened to beat up Swalwell, to find Swalwell wherever he was and hurt him, and to come to Swalwell’s office and shoot him to death, according to prosecutors.
Hall was arrested and detained on the same day he made the threats, according to prosecutors.
At the time of his arrest, Hall was out of custody on pretrial release pending sentencing for a fraud scheme in which he had already pleaded guilty for posing as Trump family members, including the then-president’s teenage son Barron, among others. He duped hundreds of people via social media to provide thousands of dollars to a fictitious political organization to support Trump’s reelection bid, prosecutors said.
For the Swalwell case, Hall faces up to five years in federal prison for one count of making interstate communications with a threat to injure. For the fraud scheme case, Hall faces up to 20 years in prison for one count of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods on Dec. 8.
