Florida man arrested over homophobic, racist death threats to Democrats
US Congresspeople Rashida Tlaib, Cory Booker and Eric Swallwell were targeted (Getty)
A Florida man was arrested on Friday (April 19) for allegedly making racist and homophobic death threats against several prominent Democratic congresspeople.
John Kless, 49, was detained in Broward County after leaving threatening voicemails targeting 2020 Presidential hopefuls Cory Booker and Eric Swalwell, as well as congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
Muslim congresswoman told: ‘You’re an abomination, just like faggots’
According to the criminal complaint, Kless also threatened to kill Ilhan Omar, who along with Tlaib is is one of the only Muslim women in Congress.
In the message to Tlaib, he said: “F**k off you towel head w**re, and go suck f**king Obama’s AIDS d**k. That’s another towel head motherf**king n***er right there, just like you… you’re an abomination, just like faggots, motherf**ker.”
He told Swalwell: “Keep talking that s**t, because the American people are gonna f**king war. We’re gonna f**king war in this country.
“You motherf**kers are gonna pay for it all, with your f**king blood, b**ch (…) suck your daddy’s dead d**k.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) participates in a House Education and Labor Committee (Mark Wilson/Getty)
All three of the messages appeared to reference Omar, who has been heavily targeted for criticism by President Trump and right-wing media outlets.
The case was filed before the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The documents reveal a previous complaint against Kless for making calls harassing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “concerning Congress taking
away his guns, abortion, illegal immigration, and Muslims in Congress.”
The affidavit adds: “There is probable cause to believe that John Kless did commit a violation of federal law” on charges of making threatening communications.
Another Florida man faces terror charges over anti-Democrat mail bomb plot
The case comes six months after another Florida man, Cesar Sayoc, was arrested over a spate of attempted mail bombings targeted at major Democratic figures
Sayoc faces 30 terror-related charges in federal court related to domestic terrorism.
Months before the arrest, a man matching the description of Sayoc was reported to police months earlier over a homophobic road rage incident.
A lesbian couple filed a police report after a man driving a van covered in “extreme political stickers” pulled alongside their moped and threw two cups of urine at them, soaking Gomez, before yelling, “Get off the road, dykes!”
Sayoc worked part-time as a pizza delivery man at the New River Pizza & Fresh Kitchen in Fort Lauderdale, under the management of self-described “proud lesbian” Debra Gureghian.
Gureghian told the Miami Herald: “He was anti-gay, anti-black, anti-Jewish—you name it. Everybody who wasn’t white or wasn’t a white supremacist didn’t belong in the world. That what he used to say to me all the time.
“When he found out I was a lesbian the second day, he told me I should burn in hell and I was a deformity, that God made a mistake with me and I should go on an island with Hillary Clinton and Rachel Maddow and Ellen DeGeneres and President Barack Obama and all the misfits of the world.”
