Man Said He’d Kill Eric Swallell During Calls To Office: Feds

A man faces prison after prosecutors say he made a series of “horrendous” threats to the office of Rep. Eric Swallell, warning over the phone that he would find and kill the California Democratic congressman.

Court documents show that prior to the calls, the man was already facing criminal charges for impersonating then-President Donald Trump’s family members on social media to raise money for a fake political organization.

Joshua Hall of Pennsylvania told Swalwell staff that he “had a lot of AR-15s” and planned to come to the congressman’s California office to shoot and kill himaccording to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Hall pleaded guilty to making threats to kill a member of the US Congress on October 28, the office said in a press release.

That same day, Swalwell thanked law enforcement officials “for stop a violent threat to me and my staff,” in a statement on Twitter.

Hall’s attorney declined a request for comment from McClatchy News.

“Joshua Hall made horrific threats to the staff of a United States congressman he disliked, rather than trying to effect change through the freedom of speech that all Americans enjoy,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

Right

According to prosecutors, Hall made several calls to Swalwell’s office in August while he was on pretrial release in the impersonation case.

He previously created social media accounts using photos and names of Trump family members, amassed more than 100,000 followers and raised money for a fake political organization claiming to support the former president’s re-election, court documents said.

In doing so, he defrauded hundreds of people who gave him money that he used for his own personal expenses instead of the purported political organization, the complaint said. He eventually pleaded guilty to wire fraud, prosecutors said.

On Aug. 29, Hall was in Yonkers, N.Y., where he called Swalwell’s California office and said he wanted to kill and “knock the (expletive) out” of Swalwell while talking to his employees, court documents said.

He also said he planned to come to Swalwell’s office with a firearm, according to prosecutors.

However, Hall’s plans were foiled as he was arrested later that day, prosecutors said.

He faces up to five years in prison on the menacing charge, according to the release. In addition, he faces up to 20 years in prison on a separate fraud charge.

On Oct. 28, Hall pleaded guilty the same day broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s house in San Francisco and attacked her husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer, according to McClatchy News. As a result of the attack, Paul Pelosi was hospitalized.

Political leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties, including President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, condemned the violence.

Suspected attacker David DePaipe broke into Pelosi’s home and said:Where is Nancy??”, the Associated Press reports.

After the attack, US Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Munger sent a memo to lawmakers saying the attack on Paul Pelosi “is a grim reminder of the threats facing elected officials and families in 2022,” the Associated Press reported.

A North Carolina man previously threatened to shoot Nancy Pelosi the day after rioting at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to the Department of Justice. On December 14, he was sentenced to two years and four months of imprisonment.

The office of Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, also received a threat by phone days after the riots at the Capitol, McClatchy News previously reported. A California man called his district office in Florida and left a two-minute death threat, prosecutors said. At the end of July, the man was sentenced to six months in prison.

This is evidenced by the data of the US Capitol Police threats against members of the US Congress increased between 2017 and 2021, according to Axios.

US Supreme Court Referee Brett Kavanagh was also the subject of threats of violence in connection with the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade this year, the Associated Press reported, citing court documents. A man came from California to Kavanagh’s home in Maryland with a gun and other weapons. He planned to kill Kavanagh before law enforcement stopped him, the documents said.