DOJ charges man over letter with threats against Benny Johnson

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the case at a news conference in which the pro-Trump influencer argued that violence had been "mainstreamed by the Democrat party."

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities this week charged a 69-year-old California man with sending a threatening letter to the home of a conservative influencer who has deep ties to the Trump administration.

George Russell Isbell Jr. of San Diego was charged with mailing the letter to Benny Johnson, who appeared at a news conference with Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday to announce the charges. Johnson was close with conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last month.

In the letter, Isbell allegedly called Johnson a "prostrating Trump boot licker" and said he needed to be "exterminated," while adding that he wouldn't take action against Johnson because he was "not giving up my freedom for worm s--- like you." Instead the letter wished for violence against Johnson.

“Here is hoping the American flag strangles the life out of you,” Isbell allegedly wrote. “My uncle drowned in the Rhine River to defeat fascists like you and I will not let his death be in vane.”

The FBI said that it found Isbell's fingerprints on the letter, along with the fingerprints of Johnson's wife, a member of Johnson's security detail and an employee at the UPS store where Johnson rented a mailbox.