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Who is Thomas Streavel? California man, 73, faces charges over online threats to kill Trump
Thomas Streavel, a man from California, entered a not guilty plea to accusations of attempting to kill Trump following the 2024 presidential elections.
A man from California entered a not guilty plea to accusations of attempting to kill President Donald Trump following the 2024 presidential elections.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Yucca Valley resident Thomas Eugene Streavel, 73, was charged last week with three charges of threatening Trump.
He was taken into custody on Monday and arraigned in the Riverside US District Court on Tuesday. He entered a not guilty plea on all three counts, Newsweek reported.
This case represents the most recent example of a person being prosecuted for allegedly threatening Trump.
Assassination attempts on Trump
Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts since last year's campaign trail, including two such attempts in the months approaching the November election. Trump received a bullet wound in the ear after a gunman opened fire during his speech at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.
In September, a Secret Service agent was surveying Trump's West Palm Beach golf club when he noticed the muzzle of a gun protruding from a fence among bushes. No harm was done to Trump in that instance.
Thomas Eugene Streavel's threatening posts on FB
According to the indictment, which was made public on Tuesday, Streavel posted several statements on Facebook indicating his intention to harm Trump or to have others hurt him prior to the November election.
The DOJ also claims that in the days following Trump's election victory, Streavel “knowingly and willfully threatened to kill and inflict bodily harm” on Trump.
“[T]rump is a dead man walking for the time being until a patriot like myself blows his [expletive] brains out in the very near future,” he wrote on November 6, as per the indictment.
In another post on November 12, Streavel mentioned he was “willing to make America great again and blow his [expletive] brains out.”
Bashing Trump, he wrote a week after that “Let me put a bullet right between the ears of your president-elect... That's my purpose for living.”
Later on November 28, he went on to say that he is “praying for a successful assassination of your president-elect.”
He additionally stated that “my life's mission is killing the worthless LOSER [expletive] and my mission starts tonight so watch yourself trump [sic], you are a dead [expletive] and I am your assassin.”
Here's what happens next
A judge mandated that Streavel be freed on a $10,000 bond. A trial date was set for July 28.
He could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in a federal jail for each count if found guilty.
