FBI Arrests Ohio Man for Threatening to Murder Congressman and Donald Trump
A 26-year-old Ohio resident has been arrested on suspicion of sending an explicit death threat to Jewish House member Randy Fine and his family, while also calling for the death of President Donald Trump. Fine stated: "It was clearly a death threat. If they think this will make me afraid, they are wrong."
The FBI arrested a 26-year-old from Ohio on Tuesday night on suspicion of sending an explicit threat to murder Jewish Republican House member Randy Fine from Florida and his family, and for calling for the death of President Donald Trump. The suspect, Alex Justin Miller from Columbus, has been charged with transmitting a threat to injure a person across state lines—a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court, Miller sent the email on August 18 at 9:02 AM—the day of the Republican primary in Florida in which Fine was competing. The subject line read: "Can't wait to shoot you in the head and blow it off your shoulders," alongside a smiling emoji.
Later in the message, which included curses and antisemitic slurs, the sender threatened to come to Fine's home, set it on fire, and murder the House member and his family in their sleep. He added, "I will never stop until your head is hanging from the roof of the White House," and called for Fine to be beheaded and his body displayed in the streets. The message ended with the words: "Death to Randy Fine and death to Donald Trump."
At the time of receiving the threat, Fine was participating in a meeting in Flagler County, while his family members were at their home in Broward County. "It was so explicit. It said: 'I will murder you, I will cut off your head and I will not stop'," Fine told Fox News. "I reported it immediately. Unfortunately, I learned the difference between an ugly message and a death threat—and this was clearly a death threat."
The Broward County Sheriff's Office transferred the information to the FBI and filed emergency requests to obtain data from Google and the internet provider Charter Communications. According to an FBI affidavit, Google Pay account details, a phone number, an IP address, DMV records, and Cash App and Venmo accounts all led to Miller and his address in Columbus. Fine said the suspect was located and arrested within 36 hours.
"I don't know what this person's motives were, but he is not from Florida, so it's not a local resident who was angry," Fine said. "I do think that members of Congress need more security than we often receive."
In a post published after the arrest, Fine wrote that in three previous cases over the last decade, people who threatened to murder him were arrested and prosecuted. "At 9:02 AM on election day, I received a threat that overshadowed them all. Now there are four," he wrote. "If they think this will make me afraid, they are wrong. There is no place for this in our political system. Anyone who makes such threats—against a Republican or against a Democrat—will be sent to prison for a long time."
Fine thanked the federal prosecution, the FBI, the Capitol Police, and the authorities in Florida. "The bottom line is: don't do it. Don't write such messages to elected officials, Republicans or Democrats," he said. "You want to call us bad people? Please. But don't do such a thing."
The threat came after an election campaign in which Fine was a target of antisemitic attacks by his primary opponent, Dan Bilzerian, and also after a swastika was spray-painted on his campaign sign.
