Following Mar-a-Lago search, Trump supporter arrested making violent threats against FBI
Following the August 8 federal search of former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, home – the Mar-a-Lago resort – authorities announced the arrest of a Western Pennsylvania man who went on an enraged series of online rants threatening to murder as many FBI agents as possible. Adam Bies, 46, of Mercer, Pennsylvania, described as an ardent Trump supporter and ant-vaxxer, was arrested late Friday in Mercer. He made his initial appearance in federal court in Pittsburgh on Monday, August 15, and remains in custody pending a detention hearing.
Investigators said that Adam Bies of Mercer, Pennsylvania, has been threatening federal agents on the social media site Gab for months. Agents weren’t alerted to Bies’ posts until after the search at Mar-a-Lago.
According to court documents, Bies, who posted under the username “BlankFocus,” repeatedly threatened to kill FBI agents. In a series of posts on Aug. 11 — three days after the search — Bies allegedly wrote that he was willing to die in order to harm as many FBI agents as possible. ~ ABC News
On or around August 11, the FBI National Threat Operations Section Social Media Exploitation team received a tip from MEMRI Domestic Terrorism Threat Monitor regarding Gab user “BlankFocus,” later identified as Bies, who allegedly posted violent threats towards the FBI and law enforcement stating: “My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop” and “If You Work For The FBI Then You Deserve To Die”.
On August 10, Bies allegedly wrote: “Every single piece of [expletive] who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their [expletive] toilets deserves to die. You’ve declared war on us and now it’s open season on YOU.”
In another post on August 10, Bies allegedly wrote: “HEY FEDS. We the people cannot WAIT to water the trees of liberty with your blood. I’ll be waiting for you to kick down my door.”
The Daily Beast shared another of Bies’ social media posts which read “Come and get me you piece of (sh##) feds,” he wrote on social media. “I am going to (f######) slaughter you.”
Bies is charged with influencing, impeding or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
During the August 8 search of the Mar-a-Lago, federal authorities recovered 11 sets of classified documents, including boxes containing records marked “secret,” “top secret,” “confidential” and “classified/TS/SCI,” or top secret/sensitive compartmented information.
The warrant and accompanying documents also indicated the president is under investigation for possible violations of three federal statutes, including the Espionage Act, and specifically the section of that law involving gathering, transmitting or losing defense information. ~ CBS News
As of early Tuesday, Bies remained incarcerated in a jail about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh. For more on his arrest, see the video accompanying this article.
(Adam Bies’ mugshot, Image credit: Twitter)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
