Florida cops arrest man for threatening to kill three Democratic lawmakers, including presidential candidate Cory Booker, and for leaving hateful voice messages for Rep. Ilhan Omar, calling her a ‘towel head’ and ‘Taliban member’
- John Kless, 49, left threatening voicemails to Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey
- The voicemails were full of racist slurs toward African-Americans and Muslims
- He also allegedly threatened the lives of the lawmakers
- In left voice messages for Rep. Ilhan Omar, calling her a ‘towel head’
A man from Florida was arrested Thursday for allegedly leaving voicemails threatening to kill three Democratic lawmakers.
John Kless, 49, of Taramac, was detained by federal agents over threat to kill California Rep. Eric Swalwell, Detroit Rep. Rashida Tlaib and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker at their Washington D.C. offices.
He left the threats in vulgar messages on their voicemails and expressed his hatred to each for freshman Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, whom he repeatedly called a ‘Taliban member’ and ‘towel head.’
John Kless, 49, of Tamarac is accused of making the threatening voicemails to Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, left, and Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell
‘No one wants to f*****g hear you or that other little whore,’ he ranted in a message left for Tlaib according to the Miami New Times. ‘I’d like to take that b**** and throw her right off the Empire State Building, that f*****g whore. Tell her to shut her f*****g mouth, you f*****g f*** her all the time probably.’
‘So tell her to shut the f*** up, all right?’ he continued. ‘From one towel-head to another. You stanking, f*****g smelly f*****g b****. F*** off. I wish all of you the worst, you can go f*** off in life. F*** you and f*** Mohammed too. You b**** f*****g c***.’
In his voicemail to Swalwell, he took aim at the congressman’s position on gun control threatening to kill him if the politician passed gun safety laws.
‘The day you come after our guns motherf***** is the day you’ll be dead,’ Kless allegedly said.
The voicemails were full of racist slurs where Kless spoke of killing black people. He left a hateful voice messages for Representative Ilhan Omar, left, calling her a ‘towel head’ and Taliban member. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, right, received a message threatening to kill her
In his message to Booker, Kless repeatedly used the N-word and derided him as a ‘monkey’.
He also directly said that he wanted to murder Booker and other black men.
‘You’re a f*****g disgrace,’ he allegedly said. ‘We need to kill all you motherf****** man, every f*****g one of you, man.’
While insulting Democratic politicians, he defended President Trump, demanding that the lawmakers stop insulting him.
Earlier this year, Capitol Police say Kless also made similarly harassing calls to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to rant about ‘Congress taking away his guns, abortion, illegal immigration and Muslims in Congress,’ local ABC affiliate WPLG reported.
Swalwell and Booker have announced they will seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.
‘I’m grateful to the Capitol Police and Florida law enforcement for protecting me, my staff, and our constituents from a threat made this week,’ Swalwell said in a statement.
‘I’m running for President to make changes to our gun laws through the democratic process. There should be a respectful debate on this issue. But threatening violence is the lowest form of communication and has no place in our community.
‘Further, if your response to a lawmaker proposing to make it harder for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons is to threaten to kill that lawmaker, you have proven exactly why we need more restrictions on firearm possession,’ Swalwell said.