Man warned he would kill Rep. Eric Swalwell in series of calls to his office, feds say
A man is facing prison time after prosecutors say he made a series of “terrifying” threats to Rep. Eric Swalwell’s office, warning over the phone that he would find and kill the Democratic congressman from California.
Prior to the calls, the man was already being prosecuted in connection with impersonating family members of then-President Donald Trump on social media to raise money for a fake political organization, court documents show.
Joshua Hall, of Pennsylvania, told members of Swalwell’s staff that he “had a lot of AR-15s” and had plans to arrive at the congressman’s California office to shoot and kill him, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Hall pleaded guilty to making threats to kill a U.S. Congress member on Oct. 28, the office announced in a news release.
The same day, Swalwell thanked law enforcement officials “for stopping this violent threat to me and my staff” in a Twitter statement.
Hall’s attorney declined a request for comment from McClatchy News.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
The case
In August, Hall made several calls to Swalwell’s office while he was out on pretrial release ahead of his sentencing in the impersonation case, according to prosecutors.
Previously, he created social media accounts using Trump’s family members’ photos and names, garnering over 100,000 followers, and raised money for a fake political organization claiming to support the former president’s reelection, court documents state.
In doing so, he defrauded hundreds of people who gave him money, which he used for his own personal expenses instead of the purported political organization, according to a complaint. Ultimately, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud, prosecutors said.
On Aug. 29, Hall was in Yonkers, New York, where he called Swalwell’s California office and said he wanted to kill and “beat the (expletive) out of” Swalwell while speaking with his staffers, court documents state.
He also said he planned to come to Swalwell’s office with firearms, according to prosecutors.
However, Hall’s plans were thwarted because he was arrested later that day, prosecutors said.
He faces up to five years in prison on the threat charge, according to the release. Additionally, he faces up to 20 years on the separate wire fraud charge.
Hall’s Oct. 28 guilty plea came the same day a man broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, McClatchy News reported. The assault sent Paul Pelosi to a hospital.
Political leaders from the Democratic and Republican parties, including President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, condemned the violence.
The suspected attacker, David DePape, barged in the Pelosi’s home saying “Where is Nancy?,” according to The Associated Press.
In the aftermath of the assault, U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger sent a memo to lawmakers, writing that the attack on Paul Pelosi “is a somber reminder of the threats elected officials and families face in 2022,” The Associated Press reported.
A North Carolina man previously threatened to shoot Nancy Pelosi one day after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots in 2021, according to the Justice Department. He was sentenced to two years and four months in prison on Dec. 14.
The office of Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, also received a phoned-in threat days after the Capitol riots, McClatchy News previously reported. A California man called his district office in Florida, leaving a two-minute-long voicemail threatening to kill him, prosecutors said. The man was sentenced to six months home confinement in late July.
U.S. Capitol Police data shows threats against members of U.S. Congress have spiked between 2017 and 2021, Axios reported.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was also the subject of a violent threat in connection with the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade this year, according to The Associated Press, citing court documents. A man traveled from California to Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland with a gun and other weapons. He planned to kill Kavanaugh before he was stopped by law enforcement, the documents say.
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