The Justice Department announced charges Friday against a New York man accused of threatening two senators as part of his anger over the confirmation of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
In several of the messages he suggested he was going to shoot one of the senators over the vote: “It’s a nine millimeter. Side of your [expletive] skull, you scumbag [expletive],” the man said in one message, concluding, “Yeah, Kavanaugh — I don’t think so.”
In another message less than an hour later the man, who police identified as Ronald DeRisi, repeated similar threats tied to Kavanaugh.
Authorities didn’t say who the two senators were, but it appears one of them has offices in the middle of the country, given the message recording times were given in Central Daylight Time.
Police said they were able to trace the calls to Mr. DeRisi because he used his own cellphone to leave the messages for both senators.
They also matched his voice to threatening messages left years ago for someone in New York in an unrelated incident. Mr. DeRisi pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated harassment in that case.
The Kavanaugh confirmation brought out the worst in many Americans, with angry protesters mobbing the Senate, and some lawmakers encouraging conflict with Republicans who backed the justice.
A staffer for a House Democrat has also been charged with breaking into another congressional office and leaking the home addresses and personal telephone numbers of several Republican senators during the Kavanagh confirmation process.
Democrats’ 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, encouraged the anger, saying her party could not be civil toward Republicans because they disagreed over too many things.
And former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the solution to what Democrats perceive as GOP dirty tricks was to “kick” them.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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