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A former marine and Republican write-in candidate for the US House in Florida has been arrested and charged in federal court with threatening to kill Donald Trump, according to the US attorney’s office.
William Upham, ۳۵, was taken into custody on Thursday after appearing in federal court in Jacksonville, Florida. If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison. According to public records, Upham is a write-in candidate, running in the Republican primary for Florida’s fifth congressional district.
Attorney Gregory Kehoe announced the charge in a press release, which stated that Upham, a former marine and former state prosecutor, had appeared in federal court in Jacksonville earlier on Thursday and remained in custody.
According to the complaint, the Secret Service began investigating Upham after receiving reports of potential threats he had allegedly made against Trump. During the investigation, agents reviewed two videos that Upham had posted to his social media accounts.
In the first video, investigators said Upham was wearing his military uniform when he called for the overthrow of the Trump administration.
“This is a call to arms,” Upham said in the video, according to the complaint. “To all of God’s children, you must overthrow the Trump administration on behalf of God. I’d like to turn to combat tactics and provide military instruction on how to overthrow President Trump and his forces.”
Upham then recommended the use of a semiautomatic rifle, such as an AR-۱۵, and stated that “the enemy” should be killed with “two shots to the chest” and “one shot to the head”, which he said would result in a very high chance of death.
The complaint also details a second video in which Upham, again wearing his military uniform, allegedly made similar statements, including that Trump was the enemy and “must be killed”.
Religious beliefs appeared to have been a key motivating factor, with Upham, according to the complaint, saying in the video that the Bible “describes the antichrist as a ruler backed by Satan who demands to be worshipped”. The complaint aded that Upham said: “All of these antichrist descriptions describe President Trump.”
Federal authorities said the investigation also uncovered a communication Upham allegedly sent to a third party in which he stated he made the videos to “declare war” against Trump and that he would “kill President Trump at the time that God chooses”.
The Secret Service also reportedly learned that Upham had access to firearms and had made concerning statements to law enforcement as recently as this month.
Hung Cao, acting US secretary of the navy, responded to the news about Upham’s comments in a social media post, writing: “Unacceptable. William Upham is no longer a Marine and does not represent our values or ethos.”
