Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was involved in numerous security incidents, including assassination threats and attempts. The first known attempt occurred before Trump was the official Republican nominee, at a campaign rally during the 2016 presidential election.
On June 18, 2016, Trump was giving a speech at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as part of his presidential campaign. During the speech, Michael Steven Sandford, a 20-year-old British man, attempted to grab a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer's pistol. The officer quickly subdued Sandford and he was arrested and handed over to the United States Secret Service, where he expressed his desire to murder Trump, claiming if he (Trump) were on the street tomorrow, he would try this again. Sandford was later sentenced to 12 months and one day's imprisonment, along with being fined $200. After becoming eligible for early release, Sanford was released and deported to the United Kingdom in May 2017.
On November 5, 2016, three days before the presidential election, Trump was speaking at a rally in Reno, Nevada when a man in the crowd screamed "gun", causing Trump to be rushed off stage by security and the man to be tackled by surrounding members in the crowd. The man, identified as 33-year-old Austyn Daniel Crites, was subdued by Secret Service agents and searched, only to find that he was unarmed. Crites, who was a Republican that opposed Trump, was holding up a sign shortly before that stated "Republicans against Trump"; Crites stated others attempted to grab the sign and were booing him. After the scene was cleared and identified as safe, Trump returned to the stage minutes later and finished the speech without incident. [1] [2]
On September 6, 2017 in Mandan, North Dakota, 42-year-old Gregory Lee Leingang stole a forklift from an oil refinery and attempted to drive toward the presidential motorcade while Trump was visiting to rally public support. After the forklift became jammed within the refinery, he fled on foot and was arrested by the pursuing police. While interviewed in detention, he admitted his intent to murder the president by flipping the presidential limousine with the stolen forklift, to the surprise of authorities, who suspected he was merely thieving the vehicle for personal use. Leingang pleaded guilty to the attempted attack, stealing the forklift, related charges and several other unrelated crimes on the same day. Consequently, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His defense attorney noted a "serious psychiatric crisis". [3] [4]
On October 1, 2018, an envelope laced with ricin was sent to Trump before being discovered by mailing facilities. Several other letters were sent to the Pentagon, all of them labeled on the front with "Jack and the Missile Bean Stock Powder". Two days later on October 3, a 39-year-old Utah Navy veteran named William Clyde Allen III was arrested and charged with one count of mailing a threat against the president and five counts of mailing threatening communications to an officer or an employee of the United States. Allen pled not guilty to all charges. [5]
On September 20, 2020, 53-year-old Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier was arrested in Buffalo, New York while attempting to cross over the border to Canada. Ferrier, who is Canadian, wrote in a ricin-laced letter to Trump that he should drop out of the ongoing 2020 presidential election along with calling him an "ugly tyrant clown". She is charged with eight counts each of prohibitions with respect to biological weapons and making threats via interstate commerce and faces up to life in prison. [6] [7] On August 17, 2023, a US court sentenced Ferrier to nearly 22 years in prison for sending a letter containing lethal ricin to then-President Donald Trump. [8]
In October 2020, it was reported that Barry Croft Jr, a Delaware man who was arrested for his involvement in the kidnapping plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, included Trump in a list of politicians he wanted to hang. [9] In December 2022, Croft was sentenced to 19 years in prison. [10]
Tracy Marie Fiorenza, a former social studies teacher from Plainfield, Illinois, was arrested on August 21, 2023, after reportedly threatening to kill both Trump and his 17-year-old son Barron. She had been stopped and questioned by police months earlier outside Barron's school in Florida. [11] [12]
The Wood Green ricin plot was an alleged bioterrorism plot to attack the London Underground with ricin poison. The Metropolitan Police Service arrested six suspects on 5 January 2003, with one more arrested two days later.
The Tacoma Mall shooting was a mass shooting and attempted mass murder that occurred on November 20, 2005, at the Tacoma Mall in Tacoma, Washington, United States. The gunman, Dominick Maldonado, entered the mall with a semi-automatic Norinco MAK-90 rifle and a pistol, injuring six before he instigated four armed kidnappings.
In the United States, a common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence in order to create a general climate of fear to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change. This article serves as a list and a compilation of acts of terrorism, attempts to commit acts of terrorism, and other such items which pertain to terrorist activities which are engaged in by non-state actors or spies who are acting in the interests of state actors or persons who are acting without the approval of foreign governments within the domestic borders of the United States.
James Cameron Mahan is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, was involved in multiple security incidents, including several assassination threats and plots, starting from when he became a presidential candidate in 2007. Secret Service protection for Obama began after he received a death threat in 2007, while serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois and running for president. This marked the earliest time a candidate received such protection before being nominated. Security was increased early for Obama due to fears of possible assassination attempts by white supremacist or other racist groups or individuals against the first African American major party presidential nominee.
Threatening the president of the United States is a federal felony under United States Code Title 18, Section 871. It consists of knowingly and willfully mailing or otherwise making "any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict great bodily harm upon the president of the United States". The law also includes presidential candidates, vice presidents, and former presidents. The Secret Service investigates suspected violations of this law and monitors those who have a history of threatening the president. Threatening the president is considered a political offense. Immigrants who commit this crime can be deported.
Threatening the government officials of the United States is a felony under federal law. Threatening the president of the United States is a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 871, punishable by up to 5 years of imprisonment, that is investigated by the United States Secret Service. Threatening other officials is a Class D or C felony, usually carrying maximum penalties of 5 or 10 years under 18 U.S.C. § 875, 18 U.S.C. § 876 and other statutes, that is investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. When national boundaries are transcended by such a threat, it is considered a terrorist threat.
Shannon Guess Richardson is an American convicted felon and former actress. She worked in television and film roles, including The Walking Dead, but is best known for sending ricin-laced letters to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, while attempting to frame her husband. She was convicted and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment in July 2014.
On April 15, 2013, an envelope that preliminarily tested positive for ricin, a highly toxic protein, was intercepted at the US Capitol's off-site mail facility in Washington, D.C. According to reports, the envelope was addressed to the office of Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker. On April 17, 2013, an envelope addressed to President of the United States Barack Obama preliminarily tested positive for ricin.
On January 22, 2016, three inmates of the Orange County Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana, California, escaped from the jail's maximum-security unit by climbing through the plumbing pipes and ascending to the roof. They stole a utility van and a taxi in Los Angeles, taking the taxi driver hostage, and drove to San Jose. One inmate, Bac Duong, went along with the hostage driver back to Southern California and surrendered to police in Santa Ana on January 29. The other two inmates, Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu, were arrested in San Francisco on January 30. Multiple people were arrested for allegedly aiding the inmates to escape, including a jail teacher.
Karen Elizabeth Todner is a British solicitor. Her clients include hacker Ryan Cleary linked with LulzSec, Gary McKinnon known as the "Pentagon Hacker", and Lauri Love.
In January 2017, four perpetrators: Jordan Hill, Tesfaye "Teefies" Cooper, and Brittany and Tanishia Covington committed a hate crime and other offenses against a mentally disabled man in Chicago, Illinois. The attackers, two men and two women, laughed as they kidnapped and physically, verbally, and racially abused the victim. The incident was livestreamed on Facebook.
George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, was involved in several security incidents after being elected president in the 2000 United States presidential election.
At a June 18, 2016, rally for presumptive-nominee Donald Trump's presidential campaign in Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael Steven Sandford attempted to grab the pistol of a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer providing security for the event. Upon arrest and after waiving his Miranda rights, Sandford claimed that he had wished to kill Trump to prevent him from becoming president. Sandford was charged with disorderly conduct and with being an "illegal alien in possession of a firearm" for having previously rented a pistol at a shooting range. On September 13, 2016, he pleaded guilty to both charges. Sandford was sentenced to 12 months and one day's imprisonment, and was released and deported to the United Kingdom after 11 months in custody.
On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrests of 13 men suspected of orchestrating a domestic terror plot to kidnap American politician Gretchen Whitmer, the Governor of Michigan, and otherwise using violence to overthrow the state government. Some have labeled the attempt as an example of stochastic terrorism, where violent rhetoric by prominent figures inspired the plot.
The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., became the meeting place of the United States Congress when the building was initially completed in 1800. Since that time, there have been many violent and dangerous incidents, including shootings, fistfights, bombings, poisonings and a major riot.