Federal officials charged a Florida man on Friday with leaving threatening phone messages laced with racist slurs at the offices of Senator Cory Booker and two House members, including Representative Rashida Tlaib. The man, John J. Kless, 49, made three phone calls within 30 minutes, starting at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, according to court records. Mr. Kless, of Tamarac, Fla., about 15 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale, was charged with interstate transmission of threats, according to court papers. In the first call, to the office of Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who is running for president, Mr. Kless said that “the day you come after our guns” would be the day “you’ll be dead,” court papers said. About nine minutes later, in a voice mail message to the office of Ms. Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, he began with, “Hey, Taliban.” Mr. Kless, referring to Representative Ilhan Omar, the freshman Democrat from Minnesota and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, then said, “Tell your Taliban friend” to stay silent about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, court records said.

Source: New York Times April 20, 2019 01:25 UTC