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Washington – A western Pennsylvania man has been charged with threatening to assault and murder federal law enforcement officers in the days following the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
Adam Bies, who allegedly went by the online aliases Adam Kenneth Campbell and “@BlackFocus,” is accused of using the online chat forum Gab – which is frequented by members of far-right extremist groups – to post numerous threatening and derogatory statements against law enforcement. According to investigators, many of the threats were made in the days following the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.
“Every single piece of s*** who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their f****** toilets deserves to die. You’ve declared war on us and now it’s open season on YOU,” Bies allegedly wrote on Aug. 10, two days after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, according to Monday’s court filing.
On Aug. 11, Bies allegedly posted to his “Blank Focus” Gab account, “I sincerely believe that if you work for the FBI, then you deserve to DIE,” adjacent to a news article that reported on FBI Director Christopher Wray’s denunciation of threats against FBI agents.
“I’m ready for the inevitable,” Bies allegedly posted that same evening, adding, “My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop. I will not spend one second of my life in their custody.”
An investigator wrote in the charging documents that they took that comment to mean that Bies was, “willing to commit violence towards law enforcement in support of his beliefs, even if that costs him his own life.”
Bies’ arrest came as the FBI and Homeland Security Department warned of increased threats against law enforcement following the search of Trump’s primary residence at Mar-a-Lago. The joint bulletin said the threats are “occurring primarily online and across multiple platforms, including social media sites, web forums, video sharing platforms, and image boards.”
The internal intelligence memo was shared with state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement officials nationwide late Friday night.
Last week, a man was killed by Cincinnati police after an hours-long standoff at an FBI field office. The suspect, Ricky Shiffer, appeared to post on Trump’s social media platform “TRUTH Social” to express his desire to kill federal agents. The post has since been removed by the site’s moderators.
The FBI searched Trump’s primary residence at Mar-a-Lago last week and seized 11 sets of documents that were marked classified, including four that were designated “top secret,” according to the property receipt that was released Friday. Trump has said the documents were declassified.
According to the search warrant, Trump is being investigated for the removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating a provision of the Espionage Act related to gathering, transmitting or losing defense information.
Bies made his initial appearance in a Pennsylvania federal courtroom Monday afternoon. He will remain in jail pending a detention hearing set for later this week.
The federal public defender’s office, who is representing Bies, did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment.
