Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence
Former House Democrat and Army veteran turned Trump ally Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as the director of national intelligence.
A Georgia man is charged with sending text messages to U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s husband that contained threats to kill the official’s family, the Justice Department announced.
Federal prosecutors charged Aliakbar Mohammad Amin with transmitting interstate threats after Gabbard’s husband, Abraham Williams, alerted law enforcement about the texts, the Justice Department said Monday. No information was available on how Amin acquired Williams’ cell number.
Prosecutors said Amin sent the texts between March 29 and April 1, warning that his family would die soon. FBI agents later discovered similar threats on Amin’s X account, which included a photo of a gun pointed at a picture of Gabbard.
“Threatening to harm public officials is a criminal act that cannot be excused as political discourse,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Richard S. Moultrie Jr. said Monday. “Our Office, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously prosecute individuals who commit these acts of violence.”
According to court papers, Amin told the FBI on April 8 that he sent the threats because he was frustrated with the nation’s foreign policy as it relates to Gaza. Israel and Hamas have been locked in a deadly conflict since Oct. 7, 2023.
Gabbard is one of many officials in the Trump Administration whom people have threatened to kill in social media posts and other formats since President Donald Trump’s July 13 assassination attempt.
“The FBI sees all threatening communications as a serious federal offense. We will employ every investigative tool and resource available to identify those responsible and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Paul Brown, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta, said Monday. “Let this arrest serve as a clear warning: if you engage in this kind of criminal behavior, you will be caught and you will go to prison.”
Man sends death threats to Gabbard’s husband
According to court papers, Amin sent several text messages to Williams over Apple’s iMessage service with threats to kill him and Gabbard. Screenshots of the messages taken from Williams’ phone were included, with Williams naming a contact “Keep Watch. Dont Answer (sic).”
In one message, federal prosecutors said Amin wrote, “Tell your wife to always be on her best behavior and not to disobey Mr. Vladimir Putin’s orders. We are friendly bears [Russian Flag + Bear emoji]. But we can also be angry bears [Russian flag + bear emoji].”
Amin also told Williams that his family would be safe “as long as you continue to covertly work for us,” prosecutors wrote. No information was available on who Amin meant by “us.”
Prosecutors added Amin continued sending threats to Williams, in one message directly stating that his family will “die soon” and that Amin “will personally do the job if necessary.”
In other texts, Amin sent Williams news stories about Gabbard and threatening to destroy the couple’s Texas home, prosecutors wrote. Many of the messages he sent mentioned starting a war with the U.S. and carrying out mass casualty events. He also texted the Houthis’ motto: “God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse be upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
The Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group known as Ansar Allah, or Supporters of God, started in the 1990s. In December, the Houthis began attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea. After the group ignored an ultimatum from the U.S., the Pentagon launched attacks on sites used by the Houthis to target and launch missiles.
In January, the Biden administration relisted the Houthis as a “specially designated global terrorist” group, citing the rebel’s attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
FBI agents found images on Amin’s X account where, in one, a gun is pointed at a photo of Gabbard, according to court papers. Another post contained a photo of a gun pointed at Gabbard and Williams, a hammer and sickle and a screenshot of a person saying, “I dream of a great war of justice that will turn American soil to ashes.”
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force interviewed Amin at his Georgia home on April 8, where Amin admitted to sending the threats because of his frustration with the U.S.’s approach to Gaza, according to court papers. He also admitted he was the person pointing the gun at images of Gabbard and Williams, the court papers said.
The Justice Department said that Amin is in detention pending a trial. According to the U.S. penal code, Amin could face up to five years in prison if convicted of transmitting interstate threats.
Threats against Trump, his cabinet
According to a USA TODAY review of Justice Department releases since July 13, people from Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin are facing charges or have been sentenced for threatening or attempting to kill those in the Trump Administration since Trump’s first assassination attempt.
Trump himself was a victim of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, during a July 2024 campaign rally. The shooter, Thomas Mathew Crooks, fired several shots toward Trump, striking the president’s ear, two rally attendees and killing Corey Comperatore. Secret Service snipers fatally shot Crooks moments later.
Ryan Routh is charged with hiding out at Trump International Golf Club on Sept. 15 with intentions to kill Trump, federal prosecutors said. A Secret Service agent shot at Routh and chased him away briefly before Routh was arrested. Federal agents found a semiautomatic rifle loaded with 12 rounds of ammunition where Routh was allegedly hiding.
In Texas, federal prosecutors charged Robert Wilson King on April 7 with threatening in social media posts to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. In Pennsylvania, prosecutors also charged Shawn Monper on Friday with threatening in YouTube comments to kill ICE agents and Trump.
Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at [email protected]. Follow her on X @KrystalRNurse, and on BlueSky @krystalrnuse.bsky.social.