Idaho Republican Party members face threats online, by phone. What police say
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Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Idaho Republican lawmakers in recent days have been on the receiving end of threatening messages, the party’s leader said.
A post on X threatened violence against members of the party, and Dorothy Moon, the chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party, received a voicemail on her home phone promising a “personal visit,” according to a statement she released Friday.
The threats came weeks after two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers were shot in their homes, one fatally, in what Moon in her statement called a “horrific assassination.”
It was “a tragedy that underscores just how seriously we must treat acts of political intimidation and violence,” Moon wrote.
Idaho State Police, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating the threats to Idaho lawmakers, Aaron Snell, a spokesperson for the state police, told the Idaho Statesman.
Anthony Tirino, the state party’s executive director, declined to comment, citing the ongoing police investigation.
A Boston-based X user posted on June 20, urging people to send someone to kill Idaho Republicans. The post has since been taken down, but Idaho State Trooper Lt. Kenny Walker confirmed its contents. Moon later received a threatening voicemail on her home phone from someone she believed to be the same person, or someone connected to that person, Walker said. ISP does not have evidence to corroborate that suspicion, he said.
On X, the user’s profile says she is “pro-LGBTQ” and “anti-fascist” and says “pronouns piss off the anti-woke gamer bro snowflakes.” The investigation has not turned up additional information about this person’s political beliefs or motives beyond the way she represents herself on X, Walker said. A Statesman message to the person on Wednesday was not immediately returned.
In her statement, Moon referred to the threats from the X user as “credible,” though Walker told the Statesman by phone that the threat to Idaho lawmakers “really is fairly low.” The same person sent out several threats to legislators in other states, he said.
Referring to the person who made the threats, which were reported by the Gem State Chronicle, Walker said, “I wouldn’t suspect that we would have any kind of issues from this individual in particular. I think it was more of a global kind of (thing), targeted out to different states that this person either disagreed with or had a particular issue with.”
The FBI reached out to the user, and the threats “have subsequently stopped,” he said. There’s been no enforcement action against the person, he said.
In the aftermath of the Minnesota shooting, Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, asked administrators to remove all legislators’ home addresses from the Idaho Legislature’s website, though lawmakers have the option to restore them if they wish, he told the Statesman.
“We had legislators that were concerned,” Moyle said by text message.