MIAMI (NewsNation) — There’s a growing trend of threats of violence against public officials, and security experts fear it will only get worse before it gets better.
“For the first time, we are seeing really serious threats that are happening,” NewsNation law and justice contributor Jennifer Coffindaffer said.
On Monday, an Illinois woman was arrested and charged with threatening to kill former President Donald Trump and his youngest son, Barron.
Newly released court documents revealed that the woman sent the threats via email to an unnamed school in Palm Beach, Florida.
“I will shoot Donald Trump Senior and Barron Trump straight in the face at any opportunity I get,” the May 21 email said.
Federal agents said the woman admitted to these threats during an interview. Now, she can face up to five years in federal prison.
Last week, a Texas woman was arrested by federal agents and charged with threatening to kill the federal judge who is overseeing Trump’s election case in Washington, D.C.
Two weeks ago, a Utah man was shot and killed when FBI agents tried to arrest him for making social media threats against President Joe Biden and the Manhattan district attorney who brought charges against Trump.
Coffindaffer, a former FBI agent, said the price of protection isn’t cheap.
“It can be very, very expensive and costly to provide 24/7 security for political figures who are being threatened,” she said.
To address the ongoing issue, the U.S. Capitol Police opened field offices in 2021 to deal specifically with the rise in threats. But just as threats are historically high, so is the cost of keeping public officials safe.
“Moving forward, we’re going to see a shift and taxpayers being asked to foot the bill for more security measures, at least until after this election. It’s just going to have to happen because of the volatility of the situation that’s going on in the political landscape,” Coffindaffer explained.
In some cases, government security like the Secret Service, FBI and Capitol Police can hire private security. But like Coffindaffer said, it’s still the taxpayers who pay for this expense.