A Virginia resident, aged 41, has been sentenced to prison for persistently threatening to assassinate Donald Trump and his family. The man promised the former president would “suffer greatly,” and ominously hinted at a “replay” of a previous assassination attempt from July 2024.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston sentenced Valeriy Kouznetsov to 27 months in a federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, as announced by authorities. You can read more about the case on the Justice Department’s website.

Kouznetsov admitted guilt to a charge of making threatening communications across state lines. In exchange, a second charge of the same nature and another charge regarding threats against the president were dropped.

The investigation into Kouznetsov began when the Secret Service noticed concerning messages from the account @VVKTsar on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. On April 17, 2025, a post referred to Trump in derogatory terms and threatened, “I will murder all of you filthy rats.”

Further probing revealed more alarming posts from the same account in the weeks leading up to the arrest. Notably, a message dated March 28, 2025, warned that Trump would “suffer greatly” and hinted at the security risks facing his family, while recalling an attempted assassination at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.

For example, on March 28, 2025, the user wrote that Trump would “pay dearly” and referenced the security of the president’s family while alluding to the attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, according to investigators.

“B— Trump you provide these suckers security against audit get out of office now Trump I see right away how you affected the situation you either fix it now or you will pay dearly with your family security you want another 7/13 secret service repeat”

Another post on April 14, 2025, stated:

“I don’t just accept anything I literally mean getting down on their knees and worshiping and begging for forgiveness and mercy and Trump is too old but your family will pay.”

Days later, on April 19, 2025, the account posted another message reading:

“I murder all of you including chump (the president).”

Investigators reviewing the account said they observed numerous posts threatening violence against Trump and other government officials. In several posts, the user referred to the president as “chump.”

Authorities said records obtained from X showed the account was registered to the email address [email protected] and was created using an IP address traced to Reston, Virginia. Login records from Google showed activity from that account around the same times as the threatening posts were published.

Kouznetsov previously lived in Reston before relocating to South Carolina in 2025, court documents show.

The complaint notes that the defendant had a history of using violent rhetoric against the president. Kouznetsov was previously convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia for threatening to kill Trump after making a series of violent statements before attempting to approach the president’s Washington, D.C., hotel on July 12, 2020.

According to authorities, Kouznetsov jumped security barriers outside the Trump International Hotel and told security personnel he intended to kill the president by “stabbing him in the heart, cutting off his head, and blowing up the hotel.”

“Additionally, Kouznetsov stated he would like to take First Lady Melania Trump as his wife,” the affidavit states.

Several days later, Kouznetsov was in a Maryland clothing store and restated his plan to kill Trump, also threatening to return to the store with an assault rifle.

Kouznetsov ultimately pleaded guilty to threatening to kill and injure the president, and in 2022 was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Investigators said he also had another encounter with law enforcement in April 2023 outside the White House, where he approached officers claiming he had a meeting arranged with the director of the FBI by then-President Joe Biden. Officers later arrested him for possessing a controlled substance and violating the conditions of his supervised release.

Kouznetsov’s supervised release was subsequently revoked and he was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.