Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger’s criticism of former President Donald Trump and his service on a House select committee Jan. 6 prompted Trump supporters to repeatedly call his office and leave vulgar death threats on the office’s voice mailbox.
Kinzinger, a veteran soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan who still serves as a reserve committee lieutenant in the US Air National Guard, revealed the horrific threats in a batch of them he posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
Threats of violence to politics have increased exponentially in the past few years. But the darkness has reached new lows,” he wrote, adding that an assembly of threats was put together by interns tasked with answering his phones in his Washington, D.C. office.
A caller directly got to this point, and said to the congressman, “I guess I can’t say much more than I hope you die naturally as fast as you can, you f**king piece of s**t.”
Another describes him as a “backstabbing dad**ch’s son” who promises he’ll be “trampled in no time,” while a third caller threatens to “protest” at his home in Illinois.
“We know who your family is,” said the caller, “and we’ll get you, we get a little c**ksucker, you c**a little bastard, you’ll get your wife, you’ll have your children.”
However, another caller contacted Mr. Kinzinger for his donation to an organized legal defense fund for the US Capitol police officer responsible for the shooting of pro-Trump rioter Ashley Babbitt during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The officer, Lt. Michael Bird, was forced to shoot Babbitt after she ignored police orders not to climb through a barrier in the Capitol area from which House members were evacuated, and faced death threats and harassment from Mr Trump. of his supporters since his identity became known.
The caller’s message referred to Mr. Kinzinger as “the son of ab**ch” who “gave $200 to that black bastard who killed Ashley Babbitt” (Lieutenant Byrd Black) and said he hoped “someone like [Lt Byrd][Killsyourhatefulmotheroryourhatefulwife”headdedaddingthatsuchfeelingwas“ahope”andnotathreat[يقتلأمكالبغيضةأوزوجتكالبغيضة”،وأضافأنمثلهذاالشعوركان”أملًا”وليستهديدًا[killsyournastymomoryournastywife”andaddedthatsuchasentimentwas“ahope”ratherthanathreat
However, another caller told Mr Kinzinger that he would “swing in order to betray the King”, likely for his criticism of Mr. Trump, while another hoped the “wrath of God Almighty” would be directed at the lawmaker.
They added, “I pray that you will suffer.”
First elected to the House of Representatives in the 2010 “Tea Party” wave, the Illinois congressman has amassed a very conservative voting record over his 12 years in Congress. But after Illinois lawmakers redrawn his district’s lines late last year, he announced he would not run for a seventh term.
A caller who noticed his retirement left a message saying to Mr. Kinzinger: “I’m glad you’re leaving because you’re a part of this and this is my wonderful letter to you.”
