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A legally blind Kansas ‘outlaw biker’ faces federal charges after threats Rep. Ilhan Omarhis life on social media and later told police he hated the progressive Democrat minnesota “Due to her disrespect for the United States and use of God’s name in vain,” according to a probable cause affidavit. independent.
‘I’m going to kill Ilhan Omar!’ Wichita resident and Maga Fan Adam Lee Osborn posted the news on Facebook on Jan. 23, according to the affidavit.
The next day, during questioning by investigators, Osborne, 60, used a variety of vile slurs to refer to Omar and “said ‘someone needs to do something about them,'” the probable cause affidavit states. “Adam also mentioned newly elected New York City Mayor Mamdani and said ‘someone needs to take his regrets out of here too, they need to do that too.'”
Six days before Osborne publicly called for Omar’s assassination, he posted a photo of himself brandishing a stick on Facebook. assault rifle Hold high-capacity magazines high with one hand and high with the other.
“Amen bro,” one of Osbourne’s colleagues commented below. “Make peace with God and get ready to rock!!”
“[O]h I’m ready, bro! ” Osborne replied.
In another post, Osbourne warned: “Ilhan Omar/You are dead!” a check of his Facebook page showed. He also shared the President Trumpblaming immigrants, wrote, “If illegal immigrants can come here unhindered, I can kill them unhindered,” and asked, “How the fuck did I end up being a minority in my own country? This ends now!”
Trump has recently stepped up his Longstanding hostility toward OmarThe Somali-born Muslim, who came to the United States as a refugee as a child, mocked her as “trash,” accused her of massive fraud without evidence and incited a Pennsylvania rally crowd to angrily declare, “She should get out. Throw her out.”
Trump’s rhetoric has real-world consequences. Trump’s perennial anti-Islam rhetoric has led to Hate crimes against Muslims rise sharplyaccording to research from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
Seamus Hughes, senior research faculty member, University of Nebraska at Omaha National Anti-Terrorism Innovation Science and Technology Education Centerand a homegrown extremism expert told independent The threat of political violence has never been greater.
“The randomness by some Americans to wish for the death of public servants should concern us all,” Hughes said. “There are many ways to express dissatisfaction with elected officials, but none of them should involve racist and violent rhetoric. There are still a concerning number of people in this country who believe that encouraging violence over political differences has no consequences. The rising number of arrests involving threats against public officials should dispel that notion.”
An attorney for Osborne is not yet listed in court records and could not be reached for comment. Osborne’s phone number listed in the probable cause affidavit was unavailable Monday.
On Friday, after a Facebook user calling himself “Lee Mason” made a series of death threats against Omar, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation submitted a voluntary emergency disclosure request to the social media platform to obtain subscriber information behind the account. Affidavit Take Osborne, for example.
“I’m an old, disabled outlaw!” the introduction says. “I love God and I love my country!”
Facebook provided a phone number, date of birth and an IP address traced to Wichita, the affidavit said. Investigators allegedly checked the number and birth date against a law enforcement database that linked the pair to Osborne, who had been using aliases online. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation then passed the information to detectives with the Wichita Police Department, who located Osborne at an inpatient medical facility in town.
detectives – one of them in a FBI The affidavit continues that they “wanted to speak with him about a Facebook post he made online” and Osbourne “responded immediately, without asking any questions, that it was about ‘Ilhan Omar.'”
“Yes, I wrote these,” Osborne said, according to an affidavit unsealed Monday in federal court in Wichita.
Osbourne initially claimed the Facebook post was just “his way of ‘letting off,'” and then “stated the reasons why he disliked Ilhan, namely because she disrespected America and used God’s name in vain,” according to the affidavit. He further allegedly told detectives that the post threatening Omar’s life was “just…a statement” and that he had “no way to follow through on it.”
“Adam claimed that he was legally blind and did not have any weapons,” the affidavit states. “Adam was asked about the photo of the AR-style rifle and stated it belonged to a friend who lived in Shefford County but he did not own the firearm.”
However, Osborne’s behavior during the interview appeared to be unusually aggressive toward Omar, using ugly, racially insensitive language and profanity to describe her and suggesting that “something” needed to be done to her, the affidavit said. Osborne is also said to have lashed out at New York City Mayor Zoran MamdaniHe, who is also Muslim, told detectives “someone” needed to eliminate him.
One of the detectives told Osborne that “his words sounded like he wanted to kill Ilhan Omar and Mayor Mamdani,” according to the affidavit.
“Adam stated that he ‘wouldn’t mind if they were killed,'” the affidavit states. “When asked if Adam wanted to kill them himself, he said he had ‘no means’. Adam stated that he had no land transportation and was unable to get to the airport.”
However, Osborne told detectives he posted such content “possibly to provoke someone into taking care of business,” according to the affidavit. “Adam said ‘take care of business’ meant ‘take them out’. Adam said ‘take them away’ meant ‘kill them’.”
Other posts about Osborne Facebook One page, not mentioned in the charging document, “offers a $10,000 bounty on Gavin Newsom’s head” and another instructs Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib to “Watch.” [her] Come back” and made an additional threat to Omar, saying: “Ilhan Omar/You are dead! “(Trump attacks California Democratic Governor Newsom”Gavin Newscomb,” and asked Tlaib, who was born in Michigan, “go back“To where she comes from.)
Osborne faces one count of interstate communications threatening to injure, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and one count of influencing, obstructing and retaliating against a federal officer by threats, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.