Lawmaker Targeted By Trump Shares Disturbing Death Threat Voicemail - All In - MSNBC

[Rhiannon12866]

After Trump attacked her late husband, Rep. Debbie Dingell has been receiving a constant barrage of threatening messages. On Sunday, Congresswoman Dingell shared a recording of one of those threats for the first time. Aired on 12/27/2021.

[Abolishinist]

1. We really need to find a way to identify and make public those who

leave these messages. I realize they cannot be prosecuted for a 'thought crime', but could their names be made public?

Although a few would become 15-minute heroes, I would imagine another few could possibly lose their employment or customers over this.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Death threats against public figures are more than "thought crimes"

The Secret Service goes after anyone who threatens the president. They need to be identified and prosecuted.

[Abolishinist]

4. Please tell me how the following statement, repulsive as it is,

would be subject to prosecution and under which specific law(s).

"I hope your family dies in front of you. I pray to God, if you've got any children, they die in your face."

[Rhiannon12866]

6. On MSNBC tonight they were saying that job #1 needs to be to identify and prosecute these threats

If someone called the president with this threat, the Secret Service would spring to action. It should be no different for our other elected officials.

[Abolishinist]

7. To be clear, i am speaking only to the phone message left for Rep Dingell,

which I seriously doubt any court would consider a "death threat". if you remember who said this on which show i would like to view it, but I'm not going to wade through 24 hours of MSNBC to find what 'they' were saying.

The case called Watts v. United States involved a prosecution of a Vietnam-era dissident. He said during a public gathering at the Washington Monument after learning that he had been classified as prime target for the draft: “If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is LBJ”

His conviction for threatening the life of President Lyndon B. Johnson was overturned because the court insisted on drawing a distinction between political hyperbole and true threats.

Robert WATTS v. UNITED STATES

The time when our Alien and Sedition Laws were in force I found interesting, tracing their ancestry to the Statue of Treasons, where one Walter Walker was alleged to have imagined the death of the King and was then hanged, drawn, and quartered.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/394/705

[markpkessinger]

3. As disturbing as the call is, I'm not sure it constitutes a prosecutable threat

The caller is pretty careful to stop short of saying that he, or anyone else, will actually do any of the things he suggests. He merely says, "I wish someone would . . ." or "I hope this or that happens." I doubt any court would uphold the charge.

[magicguido]

5. Should be easy for the FBI to trace the origin of the call. Doubtless from a trailer park