Echoes of Trump: FBI arrests Robert Chain, who ‘threatened to shoot Boston Globe staff and called them enemy of the people’
‘We’re going to kill every one of you … why don’t you call Mueller, maybe he can help you out buddy’
Federal law enforcement officers arrested a man in California on Thursday after he made repeated threats of violence against the Boston Globe newspaper this month, which included echoing the catchphrase popularised by US President Donald Trump that the news media are “the enemy of the people,” officials said.
Robert Chain, 68, of Encino, a neighbourhood in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, was charged with one count of making threatening communications in interstate commerce, which comes with a potential penalty of as many as five years in prison.
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“Anyone – regardless of political affiliation – who puts others in fear for their lives will be prosecuted by this office,” Andrew Lelling, the US attorney in Massachusetts, said in a statement. “In a time of increasing political polarisation, and amid the increasing incidence of mass shootings, members of the public must police their own political rhetoric. Or we will.”
Anyone – regardless of political affiliation – who puts others in fear for their lives will be prosecuted by this office
Harold Shaw, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said that “making threats is not a prank, it’s a federal crime.”
Officials said that Chain began making threatening calls to the newsroom immediately after the Globe’s announcement, calling the Globe “the enemy of the people,” lambasting “fake news” and threatening to kill its employees. Many of the calls Chain made to the newspaper were recorded, the criminal complaint alleges. The majority came from a blocked number that officials said they traced to his home after they secured phone records from Verizon.
“You’re the enemy of the people, and we’re going to kill every f***ing one of you,” he said according to the complaint. “Hey, why don’t you call the F, why don’t you call Mueller, maybe he can help you out buddy.”
Officials said that Chain owns several firearms, including a rifle he purchased in May.
The Boston Globe reported the threats to law enforcement and stepped up its internal security protocols, the complaint said.
On August 22, a Globe employee asked Chain why he was calling, the complaint said.
“Because you are the enemy of the people,” Chain responded, saying he was motivated to attack the media because of the way they covered Trump.
The case is the latest example of Trump’s vitriolic language reverberating into the potential for violence. For some, Trump’s name has been used as a slur used against racial minorities. As his presidency continues to face peril from a seemingly never-ending litany of scandals and legal issues, including the ongoing special counsel investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russia’s efforts to disrupt the 2016 election, Trump has ratcheted up his long-running attacks on the news media by calling them the “enemy of the people.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
