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submitted 3 days ago by micnd90@hexbear.net to c/news@hexbear.net

archive.is is not working for me right now, so here's a copy of the article

A Massachusetts man who repeatedly threatened to kill President Trump was arrested on Wednesday after brandishing a sword during a standoff with F.B.I. agents and other officials, the authorities said. Andrew D. Emerald, 45, of Great Barrington, Mass., was arrested and charged with eight counts of interstate transmission of threatening communications in connection with multiple social media posts threatening the president, according to officials.

Mr. Emerald appeared in court on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to all counts, according to a court docket.

gigachad

A lawyer listed for Mr. Emerald did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening. According to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Mr. Emerald made repeated threats against the president’s life on Facebook, including several posts in which he threatened to use a sword. Some of his posts were graphic and called for the president to be killed publicly, the authorities said. In one, Mr. Emerald mentioned tracking the president to his Florida home, the according to court documents.

“I have very good reason to threaten his life and to go after it,” reads one post from May 15, 2025.

gigachad

F.B.I. agents and other officials arrived to Mr. Emerald’s home on Wednesday morning to arrest him, but they received no response from Mr. Emerald, who was home, according to court documents. They used a battering ram to force open the front door. Eventually, Mr. Emerald stepped into view of the agents, holding a long sword, the documents said. He refused to drop his sword, told the agents they would have to shoot him and closed and bolted the door. After a standoff, officials convinced Mr. Emerald to leave his sword and come out of the apartment, and he was taken into custody. Agents found six blades of varying lengths in a search of the home, according to court documents. Two of the blades were long swords.

Mr. Emerald told the agents that he did not want to speak with them and that he had already contacted a lawyer before leaving his apartment.

After he was in custody, he told the agents that they were lucky they weren’t with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or he would have come out of his apartment with the sword, the documents said.

gigachad

The authorities had previously visited Mr. Emerald in 2018 after receiving a tip about his posts threatening the president, the documents said. At the time, Mr. Emerald told officers he would never post about politics again and willingly submitted himself into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which revoked his ability to purchase firearms, according to court documents.

But last May, another person submitted a tip about Mr. Emerald’s threats against the president. The tipster replied to one of Mr. Emerald’s posts saying it was illegal to threaten the president, and Mr. Emerald responded that he had done so for a decade and would kill any law enforcement officer who tried to arrest him, the authorities said. The federal prosecutor’s office requested Mr. Emerald be held in custody while his case continues, according to court documents. A judge ordered him to be held until a hearing on Monday.

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[-] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 29 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

This shit pisses me off so much because saying shit like "the president should be publicly killed" isn't A FUCKING THREAT. Wishing someone would die isn't the same as threatening to kill them. This is fucking reddit mod legalism

It sounds like he also threatened to kill him but those other specific statements aren't threats

[-] Thordros@hexbear.net 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

This shit pisses me off so much because saying shit like "the president should be publicly killed" isn't A FUCKING THREAT.

This is, though:

"When I see to it that Trump is put to death. It will be the the day the purpose creation put me here for beyond creating. My daughter is fulfilled. (because what she is destined to do for the world is far greater than mine, taking out the orange menace!)”

“ Oh, I’m not just watching!! Either Trump is dead and in the ground by 2026 or I am hunting him down and putting him there. Do you hear that FBI and any other organization that wants to show up at my fucking door? 🚪Put the enemy of the United States in a fucking body bag or I will.”

That's just two of his extraordinarily deranged fedposts. There's other very cool posts where he mentions names, places, times, and methods of execution.

fedposting Don't fedpost, folks. That's nooooo good! no-copyright

[-] JustSo@hexbear.net 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

"When I see to it that Trump is put to death. It will be the the day the purpose creation put me here for beyond creating. My daughter is fulfilled. (because what she is destined to do for the world is far greater than mine, taking out the orange menace!)”

Aw, that's so sweet! Teach your based dads opsec guys. They are too pure for this world.

[-] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 26 points 3 days ago

These men are all talk. What we need is action—action! JB-shining-aggro

[-] Zoift@hexbear.net 24 points 3 days ago

Wonderful Icarus, you posted too close to the sun

[-] peeonyou@hexbear.net 24 points 3 days ago

Wait, so threatening the president can get you banned for life from buying a gun? What a chicken shit country.

[-] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I thought the second amendment meant that they hand you a the-doohickey and wish you best of luck.

[-] hotcouchguy@hexbear.net 19 points 3 days ago

He killed me with a sword. How weird is that?

[-] Wakmrow@hexbear.net 11 points 3 days ago

I got that reference

[-] Carl@hexbear.net 20 points 3 days ago

I just want to say unequivocally that I would NEVER murder Donald Trump with the sharpened, authentically styled Roman gladius hanging on the bookshelf in my room. I would NOT derive intense, life affirming joy from the feeling of stabbing into his old man gut, and I do NOT regularly imagine what it would sound like.

[-] save_vs_death@hexbear.net 17 points 3 days ago

i would not do a faster than light slash through the president then say "you are already dead"

[-] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 15 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

i would not do a sick Vergil judgement cut and he would not stand there confused before slowly sliding into pieces

[-] fannin@hexbear.net 11 points 3 days ago

I would not perform the amakakeru ryu no hirameki on donald trump.

[-] Homer_Simpson@hexbear.net 16 points 3 days ago

I would just like to re-iterate all the comments made by Mr. Emerald.

[-] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 15 points 3 days ago

Now we know why he targeted Maduro catgirl-cry

maduro-gift

[-] ZeroHora@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 days ago

The guys has the will of D.

What a legend he-laughed

[-] LaughingLion@hexbear.net 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

While you were posting about the blade, I was studying it. Just looking at it. Would you just look at that.

[-] marxisthayaca@hexbear.net 12 points 3 days ago
[-] limer@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 days ago

The pen is mightier than the sword here; what he wrote has far more impact than his weapons

[-] Runcible@hexbear.net 23 points 3 days ago

You say that now but we'd be singing a different song if he had killed Trump with a sword

[-] diz@hexbear.net 10 points 3 days ago

His posts are the only Great Barrington Declaration I recognize.

[-] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 7 points 3 days ago
[-] JustSo@hexbear.net 7 points 3 days ago

fedposting hm whats this alert that just pinged on fednet? "Hexbear" ey?

Folks, a spadroon is a spadroon so I could be wrong but I'd swear that that sword in the OP image is a replica of Jack Sparrow's sword from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Also, not to do a Pirates-themed version of sincere Harry Potter posting (I am about to do just that), but while I know Johnny Depp turned out to be a wife-beating piece of shit, and the Pirates movies became terrible franchise slop, I loved that first movie so much that if I had the disposable income I'd totally pay the $750–900 to get a genuine Jack Sparrow sword replica from the blacksmith who made the originals for the films, Tony Swatton.

this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
110 points (100.0% liked)

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