Sept. 3 (UPI) — Federal authorities on Thursday morning arrested a former Christian podcaster on allegations of issuing threats against President Donald Trump‘s life on social media.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted pictures online of Secret Service agents and other members of law enforcement arresting Benjamin Azariah Southworth, 40, of Los Angeles, Calif.
“Deadly threats like this are as vile as they are criminal — those responsible will be met by this FBI and law enforcement,” the FBI director said.
His arrest came a day after a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging Southworth with one count each of threats against the president, cyberstalking and harassing telephone calls in interstate communications.
“As threats against President Trump’s life escalate, the Department of Justice will respond with the full force of the law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
“We will hold perpetrators of violent threats accountable, and anyone who makes these threats online will not be allowed to hide behind their screens.”
The indictment alleges that Southworth, a former host of the pro-LGBTQ rights Christian podcast Yass, Jesus!, issued the threats via social media from January to May.
Federal prosecutors accused Southworth of expressing “his hatred toward President Trump and the President’s supporters” on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, which he allegedly used to encourage the abuse and harassment of, and threaten violence against, the commander in chief.
The court document references one video he posted to Instagram on March 31, criticizing the Supreme Court ruling that talk-based conversion therapy is speech protected by the First Amendment by saying, “I want to practice my free speech as a survivor of conversion therapy of five years: Kill Donald Trump.”
In a second video posted to Instagram on April 8, Southworth is allegedly depicted teleporting into the White House Oval Office behind Trump and raising a knife to the president’s head before cutting to black, after which an advertisement for Southworth’s website appears.
He also allegedly posted a video to his YouTube account following the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in late April when an armed man was arrested while trying to storm the event. In the video, Southworth allegedly states, “I’m outraged that Donald Trump isn’t dead,” according to the indictment.
The federal cyberstalking charge stems from allegations that he posted on TikTok the home address of a former personal lawyer to Trump along with the lawyer’s photo and a photo of the residence. He is also accused of leaving the son of Trump’s former personal lawyer harassing messages and voicemails as well as making what the Justice Department called harassing telephone calls to the lawyer’s wife.
If convicted, Southworth faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years in prison for each charge of threatening Trump’s life and cyberstalking as well as a statutory maximum sentence of two years in federal prison for telephonic harassment.
Southworth was to make his initial court appearance Thursday in Los Angeles.