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The United State Capitol Police are formally investigating comments allegedly made by conservative political figure Roger Stone advocating for the assassination of U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and a colleague back in 2020, according to reports from multiple national news outlets Tuesday.
In a statement released by his office on Tuesday, Swalwell (D-Livermore) responded to the alleged assassination threats that were first made public in a leaked audio recording published by the website Mediaite on Jan. 12. Stone, a political ally of former President Donald Trump, has denied the allegations.
“The Roger Stone assassination plot recording may seem like the ravings of a wannabe gangster. It’s not,” Swalwell stated. “This is what Trump and his real-life thugs do: They try to intimidate opponents and will always choose violence over voting.”
“Because I’m one of Trump’s loudest critics, Stone put a hit out on me,” Swalwell added. “This threat, and other threats of violence by Trump and his supporters, must be taken seriously by not only law enforcement but also by my colleagues. Both parties, not just Democrats, must condemn this violence. Unity will always be the best antidote against further violence.”
Mediaite first reported on the alleged threats on Jan. 8 — at the time the comments targeting Swalwell and U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) were not shared out in any audio format.
Since then, Mediaite released a 19-second clip that the website says was “lightly edited in order to protect our source, who requested anonymity out of fear of repercussions from Stone, whom they believe to be dangerous.”
The clip allegedly depicts Stone conversing with Sal Greco, a former New York police officer who served as security for Stone, at a public restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., weeks before the 2020 election, according to Mediaite.
“Let’s go find Swalwell and get this over with. It’s time to do it,” the voice Mediaite reported was Stone’s says in the clip. “Either Swalwell or Nadler has to die before the election. They need to get the message.”
Stone has repeatedly defended himself on X, formerly known as Twitter. He stated in post Sunday that the audio clip is a “poorly fabricated AI generated fraud all because I am loyal to (Donald Trump).”
Stone also included a screenshot from AI Voice Detector, a website that tests the probability of pieces of audio being fabricated by artificial intelligence, otherwise known as “deep fakes”, that he claims found the Mediaite audio recording has a 92.63% probability of being a deep fake and a 7.37% probability of it being a human voice.
According to Mediaite, Greco did not deny the claims and wrote in a text, “I don’t think your reader is interested in ancient political fodder.”
Mediaite was among the many national publications to report on the new Capitol Police investigation into the alleged threats on Tuesday.
“Stone said that I and Trump’s enemies need to ‘get the message.’ Well, I and the voters have a message for Stone and Trump: We are still here, and we are not going away until we bury MAGAism and make sure America’s democracy endures,” Swalwell wrote in Tuesday’s statement.
This isn’t the first time Swalwell has dealt with deadly threats.
Earlier this month, a Florida man was charged with threatening to kill a U.S. congressperson and their children, according to a Jan. 3 press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors did not reveal the victim’s identity, but Swalwell confirmed he was the congressman in question in a post on X the same day.
“No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents,” Swalwell said. “MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you.”
According to authorities, Michael Shapiro, a 72-year-old man from Greenacres, Fla., allegedly left five voicemail messages to a congressperson’s office on Dec. 19 and in one message stated that he was going to “come after you and kill you” and that he was also going to “come and kill your children.”
Shapiro made his first appearance in court on Jan. 3, and the U.S. Capitol Police are still investigating the case.
An old death threat case involving Swalwell also recently resurfaced — but not in the sense one might think.
A man who pleaded guilty in October 2022 for threatening to kill Swalwell recently filed paperwork to run for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania, according to a LancasterOnline article.
Joshua Hall, 24, was sentenced to 20 months in prison and three years on parole after he pleaded guilty to making the threatening calls in August 2022 – while he was out of custody awaiting sentencing for another case where he admitted to wire fraud for impersonating Trump’s family members online and tricking people into donating money to a fake political organization.
According to Pennsylvania-based reporter Katherine Swartz, who broke the Hall candidacy story on X this month, Hall told her that he deserves “a second chance as anybody does, and I still want to be able to make a positive impact.”
