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By Dartunorro Clark
A Florida man was accused Friday of threatening to kill three Democratic members of Congress, federal prosecutors said.
John Kless, 49, on Tuesday called Washington offices of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and representatives, California's Eric Swalwell and Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, and left a string of threatening voice messages, prosecutors said.
According to the court documents, each of the voice messages was filled with obscenities and racial epithets.
Mr. Kless first called the Swalwell Convention Bureau at 7 am and protested against the Congressman's position on gun control, which he placed at the heart of his campaign by 2020, according to law enforcement officials.
"The day you come after our guns, Motherf —–, it's the day you'll be dead," Kless said, according to court documents. "So, if you want death, keep that, mother, —–."
Nine minutes later, Kless called representative Rashida Tlaib's offices, D-Mich., And left a desecrating vocal message filled with various insults about her Muslim religion, prosecutors said.
"Cuz 'the day the bell rings, w —-, and this country goes to war, there will be no more threats. Your life will be on the line ——, said Kless, according to prosecutors.
The next call was received at Booker's office at 7:30 am, when Kless repeatedly called the senator the word N and a "monkey".
"We have to kill everything you fool ——, dude, every f —— one of you, dude," Kless told Booker, also a candidate for 2020.
In each call, Kless, a resident of Tamarac, Florida, referred to the representative Illan Omar, D-Minn., But not to his name. He used various Islamaphobic insulting words, referring to the legislator in one case as being a "Taliban b —-" and a "towel head" in another.
Omar, who is Muslim, was the subject of multiple death threats, many of which were aimed at his faith. She was criticized for her comments regarding relations between America and Israel, which sparked a bipartisan sentence.
It also drew criticism from Republicans and President Donald Trump over his September 11 comments, in which Omar explained how Muslim Americans were abused and their constitutional rights and freedoms violated after the terrorist attacks. In his remarks, Omar said his critics were flippant about the attacks.
"Tell your Taliban friend to silence on September 11th, it's not Trump's fault … it's all the fault of your people," Kless told Tlaib, according to documents court. "You know what, she's lucky to only receive death threats … you too. Well? You're lucky, they're just threats.
Tlaib and Omar are the first American-Muslim women to sit in the House of Representatives.
Kless was charged with transmitting threats between states, a federal crime punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. He appeared in federal court on Friday, where the case is being prosecuted by the US District Attorney for South Florida.
Kless's lawyer could not be contacted for comment.
In a tweet on Friday, Swalwell thanked the Capitol Police and local law enforcement.
"Thanks to the @ CapitolPolice and enforcing the law in Florida for the protection of my staff and my constituents, "he tweeted.
A spokesman for Booker declined to comment.
A Tlaib representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors said the investigators had used open source searches on the number that Kless had called and had discovered that his operator was T-Mobile and that he was associated with Kless.
The investigators then contacted the phone provider the same day that calls were made to locate Kless, as Tlaib appeared in Florida the following week and took the threats seriously, according to court documents. T-Mobile transmitted Kless address, call and location records and provided investigators with "continuous updates of the location", or pings from the cell tower, to follow the phone that has made the calls.
Law enforcement officials also discovered that Kless threatened in February by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call on the government "to withdraw his weapons, to have an abortion , to illegal immigration and to Muslims, "according to the complaint. It does not appear that charges have been laid as a result of this appeal.
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