2026-02-19T04:00:15-0500 / CBS新闻
华盛顿 — 7月的八天内，出现了15条评论，均以化名发布，暗指美国历史上一些最臭名昭著的大规模枪击事件的肇事者，包括桑迪胡克小学和科罗拉多州奥罗拉市枪击案。
一条帖子写道：”那个垃圾法官……必须立即让她的生命终结！干得漂亮，爱国者们！！” 该帖子指的是加利福尼亚州的一名联邦法官。
另一条帖子点名批评国会议员：”太好了！现在我可以用一把强力枪支来解决[四名国会议员]，还有’ Squad’成员……先从他们开始！祝我好运。”
这些评论针对一名最高法院大法官、七名联邦法官和11名议员，其中包括检察官所说的”含沙射影的种族歧视言论”。
这些评论是针对新闻文章发布的，后被追溯到明尼苏达州一名男子杰弗里·彼得森。据检察官提交的文件显示，彼得森向联邦调查局承认，他是部分帖子的幕后黑手，并承认这些帖子”失控了”。彼得森于去年10月首次被起诉，面临20项指控，他不认罪。
他的律师试图驳回指控，辩称彼得森的言论受《第一修正案》保护。辩护律师称，虽然这些评论可能表达了死亡愿望，但并未表明彼得森有杀害这些官员的计划。
根据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻对全美94个联邦司法管辖区法院记录的分析，彼得森是去年被指控威胁联邦和州高级官员的126人之一。CBS新闻调查了根据联邦法律提起的案件，这些法律将威胁杀害或伤害总统及其继任者、以及发送威胁性通讯的行为定为犯罪。
内布拉斯加大学奥马哈分校国家反恐创新、技术和教育中心（NCITE）以及起诉项目也提供了相关数据。
这些导致起诉的威胁行为目标不分青红皂白，针对政府三个分支的官员——从法官到国会议员，再到执法人员，以及特朗普总统和拜登前总统——还指向州政府最高层官员。
数据显示，过去十年中，针对公职人员威胁提起的联邦起诉案件数量增加了三倍多。NCITE称，2025年与威胁相关的案件数量超过了2024年。
这一增长凸显了当前联邦官员的处境：他们是通过选举、任命或受雇来执法的。在当今环境下，他们面临社交媒体、语音邮件和电子邮件中的大量威胁，还曾遭遇”swatting”（假紧急呼叫引来特警队）和身份信息泄露。
美国西雅图联邦地区法官约翰·库根诺（John Coughenour）在接受CBS新闻采访时表示：”如果我现在三四十岁，家里有年幼的孩子，考虑进入联邦法官行业，其中一个因素就是我们可能要面对暴力威胁。”
库根诺法官表示，自1981年由里根总统任命以来，在他45年的法官生涯中，曾有几次因威胁而需要安保，但最近几个月收到的威胁比以往任何时候都更明确、更频繁。
他说自己曾遭遇”swatting”——一种非法行为，有人伪造紧急呼叫，将特警队引到公众人物家中。联邦调查局还告诉他，他的房子里有炸弹。库根诺还收到了数百条威胁语音邮件和其他通讯。
去年，库根诺阻止了特朗普总统一项旨在终止出生公民权的行政命令，称其”公然违宪”。特朗普在椭圆形办公室提到库根诺的决定时说：”那个法官没什么惊喜。”库根诺的照片还出现在田纳西州共和党众议员安迪·奥格尔斯办公室外张贴的”通缉令”上，该通缉令将他和其他法官描述为”已知的支持特朗普司法活动分子”。
“我在法官席上度过的前40年里，人们时不时会批评我们的判决，这是意料之中的，”库根诺说，”一半来法庭受审的人都会对结果不满。但以前从未到过这种程度——总统、司法部长和总统幕僚会进行过度批评，称法官是怪物，甚至提及所谓的’司法政变’。这些都是前所未有的。”
“文明程度显著下降”
美国法警署负责为联邦司法机构成员提供保护，其数据显示，上一财年针对法官的威胁有564起，高于2024财年的509起。该机构称，从10月初到1月底，针对法官的威胁有176起。
首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨在其2024年联邦司法机构年度报告中表示，针对法官的威胁和通讯数量在过去十年中增加了两倍。
“近年来，我们社会的文明程度和对法治的尊重显著下降，”一位不愿具名的特朗普任命的联邦法官告诉CBS新闻，”当个人或一群人不同意某个决定时——比如法院的判决——他们就会通过做出判决的个人来攻击法院机构。我刚当法官时，这种倾向并不存在。”
这位法官表示，过去一年，他的配偶收到了电子邮件中的死亡威胁，社交媒体上有人指责他腐败。
“当有人毫无理由地指责决策者腐败，对其进行人身攻击时，这至少会让公众质疑他们的机构是否真的强大、诚实，是否像设计初衷那样服务于宪法和人民，”法官说。
CBS新闻发现，去年126起起诉案件中，12起涉及威胁法官；41起涉及威胁特朗普总统和拜登、奥巴马前总统；29起涉及针对联邦执法人员的被告，包括美国移民和海关执法局特工；21起案件涉及威胁国会议员。
其他政府官员——包括内阁成员、特朗普政府高级官员、联邦雇员和未具名政治人物——在50起案件中被提及。
NCITE反恐和极端主义专家西姆斯·休斯（Seamus Hughes）表示，过去一年，针对执法人员的威胁数量急剧增加，这些人越来越成为对政府心怀不满者的目标。他说，针对这些特工的威胁提起的起诉数量可能反映出媒体对特朗普大规模驱逐行动的报道增多，以及政府优先保护官员。
“联邦起诉告诉你，’这是我们的战场，我们会采取行动试图压制这种行为，’”休斯说。
例如，在新冠疫情高峰期，针对教育和公共卫生官员的威胁起诉更多；2020年，针对试图恐吓选举官员的人的案件被提起。
虽然与威胁相关的起诉数量创下新高，但针对公职人员的令人担忧的言论（许多是恶毒、令人不安和暴力的）范围更广。
美国国会警察上月报告称，去年调查了14,923起针对议员、其家属、工作人员和国会大厦建筑群本身的”令人担忧的言论、行为和通讯”，这一数字高于2024年的9,474起和2023年的略超8,000起。
在最近举行的众议院司法委员会听证会上，加利福尼亚州民主党众议员埃里克·斯沃韦尔呼吁司法部长帕姆·邦迪确保威胁议员的人被追究责任。他回忆了去年收到的几次猥亵和暴力信息，遗憾的是检察官没有提起指控。斯沃韦尔称，有一次一名来电者给他的选区办公室留下11条语音邮件，其中一条说：”我要追捕他，那个混蛋，自己把他扔到金门大桥下面。”
“总统可以针对我，没关系，我在这个舞台上。这些人也是，”他指的是他的同事们，”但我们从未想到司法部会不寻求起诉威胁我们的人，包括来自另一党的人。我请求你帮助保护生命，因为现在的环境让生命受到威胁。”
邦迪同意”没有人应该受到威胁”，并表示司法部正在进行持续调查。
“我们有责任起诉这些案件，保护这些不幸成为威胁受害者的人，”佛罗里达中区美国检察官格雷戈里·基霍（Gregory Kehoe）告诉CBS新闻，”当一个人鲁莽地发送威胁，并且明知会被视为威胁时，这就是犯罪，我们必须严肃对待。所以要区分言论自由和通过电线或邮件进行的威胁，因为我们两者都面临，而通过电线或邮件威胁伤害他人是犯罪。”
基霍负责的地区从佛罗里达州东北角的杰克逊维尔延伸到奥兰多，西至奥卡拉和坦帕，南至迈尔斯堡。CBS新闻发现，去年他的办公室起诉了至少17起涉及威胁政府官员和执法人员的案件，是全美94个司法管辖区中最多的。
基霍拥有20多年检察官经验，去年3月被任命为美国检察官，他表示威胁及其引发的刑事诉讼案件数量急剧增加。
“我们的工作是提高意识，表明这不能被容忍，实施这些行为的人将被起诉，”他说，”如果人们做了这些事却不被起诉，人们会认为这是可以接受的，而事实并非如此。”
来自乔治亚州的前共和党众议员玛乔丽·泰勒·格林表示，国会议员及其家属正面临越来越多的恶意和暴力言论。
在接受CBS新闻采访时，她列举了被定罪的威胁者：一名纽约男子2023年因致电威胁她的办公室而认罪，被判三个月监禁；一名乔治亚州男子声称要开枪打她的头；格林还回忆起有人在她的邮箱里放了一支注射器，附带死亡威胁。
“情况太严重了，”她说，”这不是人们竞选公职的原因。无论你是否同意国会议员的观点，他们都在代表自己的选区，而选民选举了他们。对一些美国人来说，他们的观点可能极端，但在那个选区，他们却一次次连任。对那个选区来说，这并不极端。”
7月，一名马里兰州男子在2023年10月至2025年1月期间八次致电格林的选区办公室，被指控威胁袭击和谋杀格林及其家人。据检察官称，15个月内威胁不断升级，最终以一条语音邮件警告她和她的工作人员”死期将至”达到顶峰。
这名男子塞思·杰森（Seth Jason）告诉格林：”准备好立遗嘱吧，因为我们要来找你，你听到的只会是枪声……我渴望听到你临终前的哭喊。”他于12月认罪，6月将被判刑。
格林表示，从认罪或定罪到被告最终入狱的这段时间令人恐惧和沮丧。
“威胁本身就很可怕，更可怕的是，这个人认罪后还没入狱就被释放，你会想，’他们已经认罪了，还会在入狱前继续威胁吗？’这让我震惊。所以你不能放松警惕，即使对方已被定罪。”
国会成员和家属正面临日益增长的毒性和暴力言论。
前众议员玛乔丽·泰勒·格林（Marjorie Taylor Greene）在采访中列举了因威胁她而被定罪的被告：一名纽约男子2023年因致电威胁她的办公室而认罪，被判三个月监禁；一名乔治亚州男子声称要开枪打她的头；格林还回忆起有人在她的邮箱里放了一支注射器，附带死亡威胁。
“情况太严重了，”她说，”这不是人们竞选公职的原因。无论你是否同意国会议员的观点，他们都在代表自己的选区，而选民选举了他们。对一些美国人来说，他们的观点可能极端，但在那个选区，他们却一次次连任。对那个选区来说，这并不极端。”
7月，一名马里兰州男子在2023年10月至2025年1月期间八次致电格林的选区办公室，被指控威胁袭击和谋杀格林及其家人。据检察官称，15个月内威胁不断升级，最终以一条语音邮件警告她和她的工作人员”死期将至”达到顶峰。
这名男子塞思·杰森（Seth Jason）告诉格林：”准备好立遗嘱吧，因为我们要来找你，你听到的只会是枪声……我渴望听到你临终前的哭喊。”他于12月认罪，6月将被判刑。
格林表示，从认罪或定罪到被告最终入狱的这段时间令人恐惧和沮丧。
“威胁本身就很可怕，更可怕的是，这个人认罪后还没入狱就被释放，你会想，’他们已经认罪了，还会在入狱前继续威胁吗？’这让我震惊。所以你不能放松警惕，即使对方已被定罪。”
从威胁到行动
普林斯顿大学弥合分歧倡议组织执行董事香农·希勒（Shannon Hiller）将当前威胁环境归因于社交媒体的兴起和新冠疫情期间的封锁。她说，疫情期间地方官员报告称恶毒信息的语气和数量发生变化，此后多年这种趋势并未减弱。
此外，国家领导人的非人化言论以及将威胁和骚扰视为政治常态的行为，也助长了这一趋势。
“你看到威胁和骚扰在政治中被使用和正常化，从高层到基层的领导人都愿意使用它们，”她告诉CBS新闻，”所以即使官员们想站出来反对，他们也担心自身受到威胁。这就形成了持续的负面反馈。如果两党内部或社区成员中没有人站出来表示’这在我们的政治中不可接受’，这种行为就会继续。”
希勒警告说，当前环境的后果是越来越少的人愿意担任公职，而那些在职的人则担心在公共场合与选民互动会使自己处于危险之中。
“当我们看到这些动态年复一年持续恶化，我们就离某些事件或升级冲突、暴力风险更近了，”她说，”我们政治中这种敌对氛围的一部分是为更多冲突创造了易燃材料，而不是让公民空间成为我们能够自信、和平且建设性地解决分歧的地方。”
这种风险于上月末成为现实：一名男子在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯的一次市政厅活动中袭击了民主党众议员伊尔汉·奥马尔。55岁的安东尼·卡兹米耶扎克（Anthony Kazmierczak）手持注射器冲向奥马尔，向她喷洒液体。警方后来确定液体是苹果醋和水。
卡兹米耶扎克面临联邦袭击指控和州指控，尚未认罪。
奥马尔在袭击后表示，特朗普使用”仇恨言论”谈论她后，针对她的死亡威胁”激增”。
“这可能发生在任何国会议员身上，”格林谈到奥马尔遇袭时说，”我认为大多数美国人真的受够了两党不断煽动的有毒政治。我只是觉得遗憾，恐惧和愤怒被政治竞选和政治用来推动人们投票和捐款。”
针对法官和总统的威胁已演变为政治暴力。
2024年，特朗普总统遭遇两次暗杀未遂，包括在宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒的竞选集会上发生的枪击事件，造成一人死亡，总统和另外两人受伤。
两年前，2022年最高法院推翻《罗诉韦德案》的草案泄露后，一名来自加州的人手持手枪、刀具和各种工具被拘留，其住所位于大法官布雷特·卡瓦诺的马里兰州家中。被告尼古拉斯·罗斯基（Nicholas Roske）现在改名为苏菲·罗斯基（Sophie Roske），去年4月承认试图杀害或绑架最高法院大法官。
检察官称罗斯基打算杀害三名最高法院大法官，并调查了他们的家庭住址。罗斯基于去年10月被判处97个月监禁。
两年前，美国地区法官埃丝特·萨拉斯（Esther Salas）的20岁儿子丹尼尔·安德尔（Daniel Anderl）在新泽西州家中被枪杀，她的丈夫马克（Mark）身中三枪。枪手是一名不满的律师，曾跟踪这家人，掌握他们的日常行踪，包括萨拉斯上班的路线和他们参加教堂的地点。
“我认为威胁就像背景音乐，”休斯说，”它们总是在背景中播放，造成一定程度的担忧。其中一部分人会看到这些图像和声明，认为是时候采取行动了。”
萨拉斯儿子的名字被用于被称为”披萨身份泄露”的恶作剧，即有人向目标住所送披萨试图恐吓对方。大约有两打联邦法官报告收到了给安德尔的未经请求的披萨配送。
去年接受CBS新闻采访时，萨拉斯称这些未遂的披萨配送是”对法官的心理战”。
为应对政治暴力的增加，希勒表示可以采取短期措施，如改善公共会议的安全保障、确保个人数据得到充分保护，以及长期解决方案，如扭转敌对言论的常态化并追究肇事者责任。
“这听起来很基本，但人们必须接受事情不必如此，”她说。
华盛顿的库根诺法官也表示情况必须改变。
“我们不能再像今天这样下去了，”他说，”我常说，我担心这个国家在我有生之年比以往任何时候都更接近内战，但无论如何，这也会过去。”
Inside the surge of threats against public officials fueling a rise in prosecutions: “It’s too much”
2026-02-19T04:00:15-0500 / CBS News
Washington — The 15 comments came across a series of eight days in July, posted under pseudonyms alluding to the perpetrators of some of the most infamous mass shootings in U.S. history, including Sandy Hook Elementary School and Aurora, Colorado.
“That POS Judge … MUST have her life ENDED Immediately! Get it done, Patriots!!” read one post, referring to a federal judge in California.
Another named members of Congress: “This is GREAT! Now I can use a, high-powered firearm to take care of [four members of Congress], and the Squad members … for starters! Wish me Luck.”
The posts targeted a Supreme Court justice, seven federal judges and 11 lawmakers, and included what prosecutors said were “thinly veiled racial epithets.”
The comments, posted in response to news articles, were traced back to a Minnesota man, Jeffrey Petersen, who admitted to the FBI that he was behind some of the postings and acknowledged they “got out of hand,” according to prosecutors’ filings. Petersen was first indicted last October on 20 counts and pleaded not guilty.
His lawyer is seeking to have the charges dismissed, arguing that Petersen was engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment. While the comments may have expressed wishes of death, they didn’t indicate Petersen had any plans to kill the officials, his defense lawyer said.
Petersen is one of 126 people charged last year for making threats to federal and top state officials, according to a CBS News analysis of court records from all 94 federal judicial districts. CBS News examined cases brought under federal statutes that make it a crime to threaten to kill or harm the president and successors to the presidency, and to transmit threatening communications.
The National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Prosecution Project also contributed data.
The threats that have resulted in charges do not discriminate in their targets. They were leveled against officials working in all three branches of government — from judges to members of Congress to law enforcement officers to President Trump and former President Joe Biden — and directed at those in the highest levels of state government.
The volume of cases marks a more than three-fold increase in the number of federal prosecutions arising out of threats to public officials over the past decade. 2025 surpassed 2024 in threats-related cases, according to NCITE.
The rise underscores the current landscape for federal officials who were elected to office, appointed to their roles or hired to enforce the law. In today’s environment, they face a barrage of threats on social media and in voicemails and emails, and have been swatted or doxxed.
“If I were in my 30s or 40s with young children at home and thinking about going on the federal bench, one of the factors [to consider] is that we may be exposing ourselves to possible violence,” U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, who sits on the court in Seattle, told CBS News.
Coughenour was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and has had security details in response to threats a handful of times in his 45 years as a judge, he said, including when he presided over the trial of leaders of an anti-government group in the late 1990s.
But Coughenour said the threats he has received in recent months are more explicit and more frequent than what he’s experienced before.
The judge said he was swatted, an illegal scheme in which people make fake emergency calls to draw SWAT teams to the homes of public figures. The FBI also told him there was a bomb in his house, Coughenour recalled. He said he’s also received hundreds of threatening voicemails and other communications.
Last year, Coughenour blocked an executive order from Mr. Trump that sought to end birthright citizenship, saying it was “blatantly unconstitutional.” Mr. Trump had referenced Coughenour’s decision in the Oval Office, saying “there’s no surprises with that judge.” Coughenour’s image also appeared on a “wanted” poster displayed outside the office of Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, which described him and other judges as “known get-Trump judicial activists.”
“The prior 40 years that I’ve spent on the bench, from time to time, people would be critical of decisions we make, and that’s to be expected,” Coughenour said. “Half the people that come before us for trial are going to be unhappy with the result. But it had never before reached the level where the president and the attorney general and the president’s staff were making hypercritical comments and calling judges monsters and referring to a judicial coup. Things like that, that’s all new. I’ve never experienced that before.”
A “marked decline in civility”
In the last fiscal year, there were 564 threats against judges, up from 509 in fiscal year 2024, according to data from the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for providing protection to members of the federal judiciary. From the beginning of October to the end of January, the agency said there were 176 threats to judges.
Chief Justice John Roberts said in his 2024 year-end report on the federal judiciary that the number of threats and communications targeting judges had tripled over the prior decade.
“There has been a very marked decline in civility and the respect for the rule of law in our society over the last number of years,” one Trump-appointed federal judge, who asked not to be identified, told CBS News. “When an individual or a group of individuals disagrees with a decision — in this case, a decision by a court — they then begin to attack the institution of the court through the individuals who may be making the decision. That tendency didn’t exist when I started.”
The judge said that over the last year, there have been emailed death threats directed against his spouse and social media posts that accused him of being corrupt.
“When you call a decisionmaker corrupt for no legitimate reason, when you attack them personally, that then causes the public to, at a minimum, question whether their institutions are in fact strong and honest and serving the Constitution and the people as they’re designed to do,” the judge said.
CBS News found that of the 126 prosecutions from last year, 12 included threats against judges. Forty-one involved threats made against Mr. Trump and former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama; and 29 of the prosecutions involved defendants accused of targeting federal law enforcement, including agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Threatening messages directed at members of Congress were cited in 21 cases.
Other government officials — including Cabinet members, senior Trump administration officials, federal employees and unnamed political figures — were cited in 50 cases.
Seamus Hughes, an expert on counterterrorism and extremism at NCITE, said over the last year, there has been a dramatic shift in the volume of threats to law enforcement agents, who have increasingly become a target for people with grievances against the government. The number of prosecutions stemming from threats to those agents likely reflects increased news coverage of Mr. Trump’s mass deportation campaign and the administration prioritizing protecting officers, he said.
“The federal prosecutions tell you, ‘This is where we have skin in the game, where we’re actually going to put our finger on the scale and try to tamp down on this,’” Hughes said.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, there were more prosecutions involving threats to education and public-health officials. In 2020, cases were brought against those who sought to intimidate election officials, Hughes said.
While the number of threats-related prosecutions marked a new high, the universe of concerning statements directed at people in public service — many of them vile, disturbing and violent — is far broader.
The U.S. Capitol Police reported last month that it investigated 14,923 “concerning statements, behaviors and communications” directed against lawmakers, their families, staff and the Capitol complex itself last year. That figure was up from 9,474 in 2024 and just over 8,000 in 2023.
During a recent hearing from the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California appealed to Attorney General Pam Bondi to ensure people menacing lawmakers are held accountable. He recalled several instances of obscene and violent messages directed at him last year, and lamented that prosecutors declined to bring charges. On one occasion, a caller left 11 voicemails with Swalwell’s district office, including one in which he said, “I’m going to hunt him down, that motherfer, and toss his ass over the Golden Gate Bridge by my fing self,” according to Swalwell.
“The president can come after me, it’s fine. I’m in the arena. So are these folks,” he said, referring to his fellow lawmakers. “But we never expected that the Department of Justice would not seek to prosecute and investigate those who are making threats against us, and that would include those on that side of the aisle. I’m asking for your help to protect life because life is at risk with the environment we’re in right now.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell of California questions Attorney General Pam Bondi during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11, 2026. Getty Images
Bondi agreed that “none of you should be threatened” and said the Justice Department is engaged in ongoing investigations.
“We have a responsibility to prosecute these cases and to protect victims who are the unfortunate recipient of these threats,” Gregory Kehoe, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, told CBS News. “When the person communicating it does it recklessly, and he does it in such a way that he recklessly believes that what he does will be viewed as a threat, then that’s a crime. Then we have to take that quite seriously. So let’s separate the exercise of free speech from threats over the wires or over the mails, etc., because we get both of them, and threats to injure another human being over the wires or in the mails.”
The region Kehoe oversees stretches from Jacksonville, in Florida’s northeast corner, down to Orlando, west to Ocala and Tampa, and south to Fort Myers. CBS News identified at least 17 cases involving threats to government officials and law enforcement that were prosecuted by his office last year, the most from any of the 94 judicial districts.
Kehoe, who served as a prosecutor for more than 20 years and was tapped as U.S. attorney last March, said threats and the criminal cases arising from them have increased dramatically.
“It’s our job to elevate the awareness and say, this is not going to be tolerated, and people that do this are going to be prosecuted,” he said. “If people do this and they’re not prosecuted, people are going to come be of the belief that it’s OK, and it’s not.”
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, said members of Congress and their families are facing increasing levels of toxicity and violent rhetoric.
In an interview with CBS News, she rattled off defendants who had been convicted for threatening her. One man from New York pleaded guilty in 2023 and was sentenced to three months in prison for making threatening calls to her office. Another man from Georgia claimed he would shoot her in the head. Greene also recalled one incident where a syringe was placed in her mailbox with a death threat.
“It’s too much,” she said. “This isn’t what people run for office for. And no matter whether you agree with a member of Congress or disagree with a member of Congress, they’re representing their district, and their district voted for them. So to some Americans, their views may be extreme, but to that district, they keep getting reelected over and over again. To that district, that’s not extreme.”
In July, a Maryland man who made eight phone calls to Greene’s district office between October 2023 and January 2025 was charged with threatening to assault and murder Greene and her family. The threats escalated over that 15-month span, according to prosecutors, and culminated with a voicemail that warned she and her staff “were as good as dead.”
Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene during a news conference outside the Capitol on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Graeme Sloan / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The caller, Seth Jason, told Greene to “make your last will ready, because we are coming after you, and the only thing you’re going to hear is bang … I’m yearning to hear you cry for your last breath.” He pleaded guilty in December and will be sentenced in June.
Greene said the time between a guilty plea or conviction to when a defendant ultimately reports to prison to begin serving a sentence can be frightening and frustrating.
“Not only the threat is scary, it’s the fact that this person admits guilt, pleads guilty and then is sent home before they’re ever sent to prison. You wonder, well, they’ve already pleaded guilty to it, are they willing to follow through on it before they go to prison?” she said. “That’s shocking to me. So you can’t let your guard down. You can’t feel safe even though that person has been convicted.”
Members of Congress have taken steps to protect themselves, such as by installing security systems at their homes, arming themselves or hiring personal security. Last November, Congress approved legislation that provided $203.5 million to boost security for lawmakers. Each senators’ office received an additional $750,000 to pay for enhanced security measures, including at their residences. About $100 million went toward bolstering security for House members and their families.
Greene, who served five years in the House and resigned Jan. 5, said she carries a gun and practices shooting.
From threats to action
Shannon Hiller, executive director of the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University, attributed the current threat environment to the rise of social media and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, local officials reported changes in the tone and volume of vitriolic messages, and that hasn’t subsided in the years since, she said.
Additionally, there has been a climate of dehumanizing rhetoric by the nation’s leaders, as well as a normalization of the use of threats and harassment against those on the other side of an issue, Hiller said.
“You have threats and harassment being used and normalized in politics and you have leaders all the way at the top and down being willing to use it,” she told CBS News. “So even for officials who may want to speak up against it, they’re worried about threats themselves. That creates this continual negative feedback. If there’s no sanction from within either party, within community members, to say, ‘This is unacceptable in our politics,’ then that behavior will continue.”
Hiller warned that a consequence of today’s landscape is fewer people willing to serve in public office and, for those who are serving, a fear that engaging with constituencies in public settings could put them in danger.
“When we see all of these dynamics year after year and continue to worsen, that’s what gets us closer to some incident or escalation creating broader conflict and risk of violence,” she said. “Part of what this climate of hostility in our politics does is create the tinder for more conflict rather than having our civic spaces be a place where we can feel confident, we can peacefully and constructively resolve our differences.”
That risk became reality late last month, when a man assaulted Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, during a town hall in Minneapolis. The alleged perpetrator, 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, charged at Omar with a syringe in his hand and sprayed her with a liquid. Police later determined it to be apple cider vinegar and water.
Kazmierczak faces a federal assault charge as well as state charges. He has not yet entered a plea.
Omar said after the attack that she sees death threats against her “skyrocket” after Mr. Trump uses “hateful rhetoric” to talk about her.
A man is tackled after spraying a substance at Rep. Ilhan Omar during a town hall in Minneapolis on Jan. 27, 2026. Octavio JONES /AFP via Getty Images
The president has repeatedly demonized Omar in the seven years since she began serving in the House. Mr. Trump has called her a “fake sleazebag” and “garbage,” and suggested on numerous occasions that she should “go back” to her home country, Somalia.
“It could be anybody in Congress,” Greene said about the Omar attack. “I think most Americans are really getting fed up with just the constant fueling of toxic politics that come from both sides. And I just think it’s unfortunate that it’s fear and anger that is used by political campaigns and politics to drive people to vote and donate.”
Threats targeted at jurists and the president have also materialized into political violence.
Mr. Trump was the victim of two attempted assassinations in 2024, including the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left one dead and the president and two others injured.
Two years prior, after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, an individual from California was detained outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home armed with a handgun, knife and myriad tools. The defendant, who was arrested and charged as Nicholas Roske but now goes by Sophie Roske, pleaded guilty last April to attempting to kill or kidnap a Supreme Court justice.
Prosecutors said Roske aimed to kill three members of the high court and researched their home addresses. Roske was sentenced to 97 months in prison last October.
Two years earlier, Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas was shot and killed at their New Jersey home. Her husband, Mark, was shot three times. The gunman, a disgruntled lawyer, had been stalking the family and had information on their daily movements, including the routes Salas took to work and where they attended church, according to the FBI.
“I think of threats like the mood music,” Hughes said. “They always play in the background, they cause a level of concern. And there will be a subset of people from that who see these images and announcements and say it’s time to take action.”
The name of Salas’ son has been invoked by perpetrators of hoaxes known as “pizza doxxing,” which involves sending pizza to a target’s home in an attempt to scare them. Roughly two dozen federal judges have reported receiving unsolicited deliveries for Anderl.
In an interview with CBS News last year, Salas called the attempted pizza deliveries “psychological warfare” against judges.
To combat the rise in political violence, Hiller said there are short-term steps that can be taken, like improving security at public meetings and ensuring there are adequate personal data protections, as well as long-term solutions, such as countering a normalization of hostility and holding perpetrators accountable.
“It sounds basic, but people really have to accept it doesn’t have to be this way,” she said.
Coughenour, the judge from Washington, too, said things must change.
“We can’t go on the way that we are today,” he said. “I’ve often said that I worry that this country is closer to civil war than it’s ever been in my lifetime, but surely this, too, will pass.”
Callie Teitelbaum contributed to this report.
