A 30-year-old New Hampshire man faces federal charges after authorities say he texted a threat to kill Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.
Tyler Anderson, of Dover, made his initial appearance Monday afternoon in Concord federal court and was ordered held until a detention hearing due to take place Thursday morning.
According to investigators, Anderson responded to a text message from the Ramaswamy campaign advertising a Monday morning breakfast event in Portsmouth
“Great, another opportunity for me to blow [Ramaswamy’s] brains out!,” Anderson allegedly replied, per court documents.
In a follow-up message, investigators say, Anderson warned: “I’m going to kill everyone who attends and then f— their corpses.”
Court documents did not identify Ramaswamy as the threatened candidate, but details of the event matched the biotech entrepreneur’s campaign calendar, and a spokeswoman confirmed the 38-year-old was the subject of Anderson’s threat.
The Ramaswamy campaign expressed gratitude to law enforcement for addressing the threat. AP
The threat was in response to a campaign text message advertising a Ramaswamy breakfast. US Attorney's Office“We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans,” Tricia McLaughlin told The Post.
When authorities arrested Anderson on Saturday, they found similar messages on his phone responding to a different campaign.
“Fantastic, now I know where to go so I can blow that bastard’s head off,” read one Dec. 6 message, while a follow-up read: “Hope you have the stamina for a mass shooting!”
The presidential hopeful made his latest return to New Hampshire over the weekend. AFP via Getty ImagesCourt documents did not identify the candidate who was subject to the earlier threat, but the campaign’s message used the phrase “tell it like it is,” a statement associated with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“We appreciate and are thankful for the Department of Justice and law enforcement moving quickly to address these threats,” a Christie spokesperson told The Post Monday evening.
In a separate statement, Ramaswamy said: “We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter. Our security team worked closely with New Hampshire state police, who are some of the best in the nation. We’re going to let the investigators do their work and figure out who this person is and what their motives might be.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and outsider candidate, launched his campaign back in February. AFP via Getty Images“I will however say this: we constantly hear about January 6 and ‘violence’ and ‘extremism on the right’ from the media, but the same media goes silent when the target is a Republican. Deranged voices and left-wing cranks like Keith Olbermann and Steve Schmidt continue to demonize Republicans and question our loyalty to the country. It’s no wonder that fanatics will take action. Whenever it’s some nut with alleged right-wing views, the media is quick to blame all conservatives for stoking violence. And yet the media never looks in the mirror and sees that they stoke hatred and violence by questioning our patriotism and motives and accusing us of undermining democracy.”
Anderson faces a single charge of transmitting an interstate threat to injure, according to court documents.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, a maximum of three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
Ramaswamy is polling at an average of 7% in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s Jan. 23 primary, according to RealClearPolitics.
Former President Donald Trump leads the pack with an average of 45.7% support, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (18.7%), Christie (11.3%), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (7.7%) and Ramaswamy.
