'Get the (expletive) out of office': Sen. Thom Tillis releases death threats. Free speech?
Several compilations of threatening voicemails received by North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis were published on YouTube this month - and included in a news release from his office.
On March 13, Tillis' Senior Advisor Daniel Keylin issued a news release over email with the subject line "MEMO: Tired of death threats? Then get the f*** out of office!" The subject was in reference to one of many expletive-ridden, often threatening voicemails left for Tillis and his staff - which were also included in the release in video form.
Keylin's release denounced hateful materials received by Tillis including the voicemails, as well as the recent behavior of protesters, expressing concern over a "new normal."
"Democratic parties and established left-wing political groups protesting a Republican member of Congress is nothing new nor newsworthy," Keylin wrote. "What is newsworthy is the volume of threats and harassment directed at members of Congress and their staff is the new normal and indicative of a much larger problem with the political discourse in our country."
Chris Cooper, a professor of political science at Western Carolina University, told the Citizen Times that Tillis may be seeing a larger volume of threats and hate from the public due to his role as a more moderate Republican "deal-maker" in Congress.
"I think he's in the unique position of getting hit from both sides, right?" Cooper said. "Members of Congress today unfortunately receive death threats, but usually they come from one direction. People from the left get them from the right. People from the right get them from the left."
Cooper explained that some of Tillis' recent votes and rhetoric may have angered not only Democrats, but members of his own party, resulting in increased criticism and even threats from both ends of the political spectrum.
Thom Tillis death threats
The first video, posted March 13 to Tillis' YouTube channel, contained six voicemails from angry callers, several of which contained threats or references to violence against Tillis, his staff and his family members. One caller threatened to cut Tillis' throat. Another, referenced in Keylin's subject line, told Tillis to "get the f*** out of office."
Some other voicemails didn't directly reference violence, but directed hatred and dissatisfaction towards Tillis.
"I suggest, well, you’re going to have to be very careful about going out in public or talking to anybody that's real, that’s an actual American, because we hate you, and we are going to resist, and you are going to fail," said one caller. "Do you understand me? You are going to fail. You are not going to destroy my country. We are going to get my country back. The thousand-year reich lasted 12 years. My grand experiment, our grand experiment, lasted 248, before you decided to put a knife in the backs of our fathers."
A second video, posted March 17, contained more threats left in five voicemails, including one caller who said he might "drive to North Carolina and shoot him dead in the streets like the dog he is."
Also included in the original release was a link to a letter sent to Tillis' office in late February. Keylin said that, while the anonymous writer claimed they did not intend to threaten Tillis or his staff, language used in the letter indicated otherwise.
"They went on to declare that Senator Tillis’ staff members are “sacrificial lambs” who “signed up to be his shield” and implied they would soon be subject to the violence of angry mobs unless they resign," Keylin wrote.
Thom Tillis protests
The initial release also denounced the actions of attendees of a March 6 protest organized by political group Indivisible Guilford County.
"Senator Tillis’ staff allowed dozens of these protestors to come into the office in an orderly fashion to sign a guest book. It went fine until a group of about 50 angry individuals splintered off and remained after the others left. They angrily yanked and attempted to open the office’s locked door, yelling at Tillis’ staff to open it: 'Come back, we see you! Open the door!' and reminding the staff they had no way to exit their office."
The release added that "out of an abundance of caution," law enforcement has advised Tillis' staff to work remotely on days when protesters are expected.
Are death threats illegal?
The Georgetown Law Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection published a fact sheet around the legality of "threats and incitement to violence related to the election" following the 2020 election. The following information was included:
- The First Amendment does not protect violent or unlawful conduct, even if the person engaging in itintends to express an idea.
- The First Amendment does not protect speech that incites imminent violence or lawlessness.
- Threats of violence, stalking, and harrassing people, whether private individuals or public officials, arenot protected by the First Amendment and may violate multiple federal and state criminal laws.
- It is is felony under federal law to communicate a threat to injure or kidnap another persononline, by phone or mail, or using other interstate channels.
- It is a felony under federal law to engage in stalking, defined as a course of conduct conductedonline, through the mail, or traveling across state lines, which would put a person in reasonablefear of death or serious bodily injury or cause substantial emotional distress, when done withthe intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate, or surveil that person.
- State criminal laws penalize threats to injure or kill another person as well as stalking, whichgenerally refers to a course of conduct that involves repeated harassment or threats that wouldcause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, or intimidated.
- Crimes of violence intended to intimidate and coerce are considered terrorism under federal law, see18 U.S.C. § 2331, and the laws of many states, and threats to commit such crimes are not protectedby the First Amendment.
Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the Paste BN Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.