A 29-year-old man from Rome, Georgia, was arrested following an alleged social media tirade threatening to kill President Donald Trump.
The suspect, Jauan Rashun Porter, reportedly joined a TikTok livestream on July 26 discussing the Trump administration’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility for undocumented immigrants, where he allegedly posted a comment threatening the president’s life.
“So there’s only one way to make America great and that is putting a bullet in between Trump’s eyes,” Porter posted, according to a Justice Dept. press release. The DOJ added that similar remarks were made over several minutes.
“I’m gonna kill Donald Trump. I’m gonna put a 7.62 bullet inside his forehead,” Porter allegedly continued. “I’m gonna watch him bleed out and I’m gonna watch him die. I’m gonna do that.”
Following his remarks, other livestream participants raised the specter of Porter being visited by federal agents, leading him to respond: “I’m gonna kill them too.”
According to the government, Porter’s remarks appeared to be more than just empty threats. According to the DOJ, Secret Service agents, along with local and state police, discovered two pipes, pistol ammunition, and Tannerite—an explosive—during a search of Porter’s apartment.
“Porter has prior convictions for terroristic threats, influencing a witness, mutiny in a penal institution, drug possession, battery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and domestic violence. He is currently on probation,” said the Justice Dept. release.
The suspect was charged with making threats against the President and is scheduled for a detention hearing on August 12.
“The allegations against Porter are serious and required a swift, decisive, and collaborative response,” U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said in the release. “We do not tolerate threats against public officials or law enforcement officers, and Porter will now face the consequences of his actions.”
Porter’s alleged threats come a little more than a year after President Trump, then on the campaign trail in Butler, Pa., was nearly assassinated by a sniper who had managed to get on top of a building a short distance away.
A few minutes into Trump’s speech, he was seen quicky grabbing his ear and ducking behind the podium as several shots rang out. The first bullet knicked Trump’s right ear, while other rounds killed one man, Corey Comperatore and seriously wounded fellow attendees David Dutch and James Copenhaver.
The shooter, Thomas Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper team.
Weeks later, while Trump was golfing at one of his Florida courses, another alleged would-be assassin was found hiding in the bushes armed with a rifle near a green as the former and future president approached.
Secret Service agents fired upon the suspect before fleeing the scene, but was later apprehended by police in Martin County.
Last week, a federal judge inexplicably allowed the Justice Department to keep key evidence in the second Trump assassination attempt under wraps, citing potential “exceptionally grave damages” to U.S. national security.
The order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon stems from a DOJ motion to block the release of classified materials in the case of Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump at his Florida golf course in September 2024.
Routh has not been permitted to view the classified evidence. He wasn’t even allowed to see the DOJ’s motion or attend the secret hearing related to it, according to reports.
Cannon did not elaborate in her ruling, stating only that disclosure of the materials “could cause serious damage or exceptionally grave damages to the national security of the United States.”
The classified evidence may be tied to Routh’s 2022 trip to Ukraine, where he attempted to recruit fighters to join the U.S. proxy war against Russia. In a 2023 self-published book, Routh claimed his “best partner” in Ukraine was an Israeli.
The DOJ later accused him of trying to purchase a rocket launcher from a purported Ukrainian as part of his alleged plot.
