Political Violence and Threats

Minneapolis police identified the man who rushed Rep. Ilhan Omar during a Minneapolis town hall and sprayed her with a foul‑smelling, unknown liquid delivered from a syringe as 55‑year‑old Anthony (James) Kazmierczak; officers immediately took him into custody and he was booked into Hennepin County Jail on a third‑degree assault charge. The attack — which occurred as Omar was calling for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to resign and advocating abolishing ICE — prompted forensic and U.S. Capitol Police follow‑up; Omar declined immediate medical attention, continued the event, and later said she was “ok” and would not be intimidated.

University of Utah student Dean Stewart was arrested Jan. 12, 2026 and charged with disorderly conduct, making threats and disobeying a lawful order after, witnesses say, he verbally abused conservative students, threatened to "Kirk" them — a reference to the 2025 assassination of Charlie Kirk — and mimicked firing a rifle while standing in front of campus police. Conservative student Riley Beesley gave a first‑person account saying Stewart called them "Nazis," "fascists" and "pigs," made explicit death threats, and positioned himself before officers before they moved in to detain him.

A federal criminal complaint in the Central District of California charges 22‑year‑old Marco Antonio Aguayo of Anaheim with threatening the president and successors to the presidency after he allegedly posted Instagram comments about pipe bombs and 'bloodshed' timed to Vice President JD Vance’s July 12 visit to Disneyland Resort. According to a Secret Service affidavit, an account traced to Aguayo told Disney’s official Instagram followers that 'pipe bombs have been placed in preparation for J.D. Vance’s arrival' and warned there would be bloodshed that night, prompting a federal investigation. Agents say records from Meta, Google and other providers tied the account to Aguayo’s email, phones, IP addresses and home, and that after initially claiming he was hacked, he admitted making the posts as a 'joke' before consenting to searches that found him logged into the account. Aguayo was arrested Friday and is expected to make his initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, as Attorney General Pamela Bondi and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli used the case to warn that anonymous online threats against public officials will be aggressively prosecuted. The arrest adds to a growing list of federal cases over social‑media threats targeting top officials, from Vice President Vance to campus radio hosts and others whose posts have already drawn Secret Service scrutiny.