Police officers arrested Eugene Huelsman, a camera operator for ABC, CNN and NBC, because he threatened to murder Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and his children, the Post Millennial reported.
Huelsman, 58, called Gaetz’s office a few days after a trespassing and loitering incident at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He addressed the threat to a person named “MG,” according to the federal indictment.
“Tell [MG] to watch his back, tell him to watch his children… I’m coming for him… I’m gonna f—ing kill him,” Hueslman said. “I’m gonna put a bullet in you and I’m gonna put a bullet in one of your f—ing kids too.”
Gaetz, 39, who was married earlier this year, is not thought to have any children, although he has said he regards 20-year-old Cuban refugee Nestor Galbán as being like a son.
Based on this phone call, a federal grand jury in Pensacola, Florida, indicted Huelsman on May 18 and charged him with transmitting a threat to injure another across state lines.
This charge comes with a maximum five-year prison sentence, Law & Crime reported.
Local authorities could not locate Huelsman, and so the indictment remained sealed until his arrest in Los Angeles, California last week.
Huelsman worked in corporate media for years and even landed five Emmy nominations for his camera work on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
In a separate incident, the Capitol Police referred a threat against Gaetz to the Justice Department and recommended the person’s arrest and prosecution.
The Justice Department denied the Capitol Police’s request.
That man’s identity and whereabouts, as well as the level of threat that he poses to Gaetz’s life, remain unknown.
Gaetz spoke on the House floor recently about the Justice Department’s failure to protect him.
“I think someone may be trying to kill me and if they are successful I would like my constituents and my family to know who stopped their arrest,” he said, referring to the Justice Department.
On Tuesday, Gaetz blasted the Justice Department for only acting on Huelsman’s threat against him and ignoring the person who threatened him on Twitter and traveled to Washington, D.C. to harm him.
“An indictment was issued in May, and has now been unsealed the week after my criticism,” the GOP lawmaker said.
“If they took our security seriously, they would arrest all of the people who violate federal law and the threats to kill us, not just some of them,” he added. “… I think that the Department of Justice is biased against Republicans.”
