(Reuters) -U.S. federal authorities have arrested a man accused of sending dozens of threatening and violent messages to public officials he viewed as hostile to President Donald Trump’s agenda, charging him with threatening a member of Congress.
Geoffrey Giglio, a Trump supporter who has previously been questioned by at least four federal law enforcement agencies over similar conduct, was charged this week with threatening a member of U.S. Congress, transmitting interstate threats and making anonymous harassing communications, according to a federal complaint.
The charges stem from violent and profane messages Giglio allegedly left for U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat and frequent Trump critic.
According to the complaint, Giglio left a voicemail for Swalwell in March warning, “If you want to keep fighting, then we will come get you.” He referenced a .308 caliber rifle, saying, “I’ll just set up behind my .308 and I’ll do my job,” and ended the message with sexually explicit remarks about Swalwell’s wife.
In a follow-up call to Swalwell’s office in mid-June, after already being questioned by the FBI, Giglio told a staff intern, “Tell Eric Swalwell that we are coming and that we are going to handle everyone. We are going to hurt everyone,” according to the complaint.
The complaint also details threats Giglio made to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, and to an FBI agent investigating the matter. In a message to Benson, he said, “We are coming for you,” using explicit language and threatening to “put her in a hole.” Giglio acknowledged sending the message during a June 3 interview with the FBI, the complaint said.
On June 26, the day before his arrest, Giglio sent several hostile messages to the FBI agent, writing, “Now I’m coming for you.” the complaint said.
Giglio was arrested in California but was not charged over the threats to Benson or the FBI agent, the complaint said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, which is prosecuting the case, and the FBI declined to comment. A public defender listed in court records as representing Giglio did not respond to requests for comment. The offices of Swalwell and Benson also did not immediately respond.
The White House condemned the threats against Swalwell. “As a survivor of multiple assassination attempts, the president takes these matters extremely seriously,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields. “Anyone engaging in such behavior will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
The complaint cites a 2024 Reuters investigation that identified Giglio as a persistent source of threats against public officials, including judges, lawmakers and state election officials. Despite multiple investigations by federal agencies, including the FBI and the Secret Service, Giglio had not previously been charged, as his messages often stopped short of the legal threshold for prosecution under the First Amendment, according to the Reuters report.
The arrest comes amid the most sustained wave of U.S. political violence since the 1970s, including two assassination attempts against Trump last year and the murder in June of a former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and her husband.
(Reporting by Reuters staff. Editing by Jason Szep)
