Vice President Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Atlanta on July 30, 2024.
John Bazemore/AP
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John Bazemore/AP
A Virginia man was arrested last week on suspicion of making death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris, federal court documents show.
FBI agents said 66-year-old Frank Carillo is accused of posting more than 4,000 comments on the social media platform GETTR threatening multiple public officials, including Harris, President Biden and FBI Director Christopher Wray. and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Harris was mentioned 19 times on the account, including multiple mentions in the days after it was announced she was running for president instead of Biden, the complaint said.
Carrillo was charged with violating the United States Code, which makes it unlawful to “knowingly and otherwise knowingly make any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President, or other official in the line of succession to the office of the President.”
“Open political discourse is a cornerstone of our American experience,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh. “We can disagree. We can argue, we can debate. However, when those disagreements turn into threats of violence, law enforcement must step in.
The account, whose username is “joemadarats1,” was discovered after Carrillo allegedly made threats to the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office in Arizona, which reported the conduct to the FBI’s Arizona office. The agency then contacted Google and GETTR to trace the IP address, email address and location history of the account and device.
Carrillo also allegedly used the name Joe Amarats on his Facebook account and made comments about a gun he purchased in February.
The FBI searched Carrillo’s home in Winchester, Virginia, on Friday. They found an RF-15 rifle and a 9mm handgun.
“My AR-15 is locked and loaded,” Carrillo allegedly said in a post.
During the search, Carrillo said, “It’s ridiculous to make a comment. I think I need an attorney,” the complaint states.
Carrillo’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
