FBI: Mercer man made online threats against law enforcement after Trump search

A Mercer man is accused of threatening violence against federal agents and other law enforcement on the social media platform Gab following the search last week of former President Trump’s home in Florida.

Adam Bies, 46, is charged with influencing, impeding or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers.

Bies had an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan on Monday afternoon and will remain in custody pending a detention hearing on Thursday.

The government is asking that Bies remain incarcerated pending trial, alleging he is both a danger to the community and a flight risk.

The FBI said the majority of the threats came in the days following the search of Trump’s home on Aug. 8. During the search, authorities said the FBI removed 11 sets of classified records, including documents marked “top secret,” but also “sensitive compartmented information” — a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets.

The record of what was seized was unsealed Friday afternoon and showed that Trump is under investigation for potential crimes under the federal Espionage Act.

In the days after the search, online threats of violence against law enforcement and particularly the FBI have increased dramatically, according to federal officials.

An affidavit of probable cause filed against Bies said the FBI’s Social Media Exploitation team got a tip on Aug. 11 regarding a Gab user named “BlankFocus” who had posted threats toward the FBI and other law enforcement.

“‘My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop,’” the user wrote, according to the complaint. “‘If you work for the FBI, then you deserve to die.’”

On Aug. 11, the affidavit continued, an emergency disclosure request was filed with the far-right social media platform Gab seeking the subscriber name for that account.

Gab provided information that traced back to Bies, the complaint said.

Gab also provided information from a chat log, in which the complaint said the subscriber wrote, “‘I use a fake name for my photography and Gab so that corporate Murica can’t google me out of a job.’”

Among Bies’ posts on Gab, he wrote on Aug. 11, “‘I’ll shoot an SS officer in the head just as quick as I’d shoot a KGB officer in the head. Keep that in mind. There are plenty of other letters in the alphabet. Police state scum are police state scum. Period.’”

In another post that day, Bies tagged Gab CEO Andrew Torba, the affidavit said, writing “‘Here’s Fox News throwing Gab under the bus because people … had opinions here. The examples they provided were nowhere near ‘threats.’”

“‘Bies wrote: “Hey (expletive). Why don’t you send them my threats so that they’d at least have something credible to show on Fox News. Just scrub my timeline for the posts you didn’t delete after you threatened to ban me,’” he wrote. “‘I sincerely believe that if you work for the FBI, then you deserve to DIE.”

According to the affidavit, the Fox News article referenced FBI Director Christopher Wray “push(ing) back on threats following unprecedented raid on Trump.”

The affidavit said that, based on what Bies wrote, he acknowledges that he is making threats.

Also on Aug. 11, Bies wrote, “‘I’m ready for the inevitable,’” saying that he expected to be killed by law enforcement. “My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop. I will not spend one second of my life in their custody.’”

“Based on the post described herein, I believe Bies is making his intentions known that he is willing to commit violence towards law enforcement in support of his beliefs, even if that costs him his own life,” the FBI wrote in the affidavit.

The affidavit notes that Gab had previously issued Bies a warning for a post saying that agents with “the FBI should be put down.’”

“‘It’s perfectly OK for the government to constantly tell you that they intend to murder you, but when we decide we’ve had enough and tell them we are going to slaughter THEM, you get banned from Gab. (Andrew Torba) go ahead and ban me you (expletive),” Bies wrote, according to the affidavit.