RIVERSIDE, California – A San Bernardino County man was arraigned today on a three-count federal grand jury indictment charging him with threatening to assassinate then-President-elect Donald Trump after last year’s election.
Thomas Eugene Streavel, 73, of Yucca Valley, is charged with three counts of making threats against the President-elect.
Streavel was arrested Monday and was arraigned today in United States District Court in Riverside. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and a July 28 trial date was scheduled. A federal magistrate judge ordered him released on $10,000 bond.
“This defendant is charged with threatening the life of our President – a man who has already survived two deranged attempts on his life,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice takes these threats with the utmost seriousness and will prosecute this crime to the fullest extent of the law.”
“The type of rhetoric and threats made by this defendant are similar to those that led to an attempt on the President’s life last year,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “There is no place for political violence or threats of violence in the United States. We will not hesitate to arrest and charge others who engage in similar criminal conduct.”
According to the indictment that a federal grand jury returned on May 29 and was unsealed today, Streavel used his Facebook account before the 2024 U.S. presidential election to post multiple messages expressing his desire to harm or have others harm President Trump.
After the 2024 presidential election, Streavel allegedly continued using Facebook to post about assassinating President Trump. For example, on November 6, 2024 – the day after the election – Streavel posted, “[T]rump is a dead man walking for the time being until a patriot like myself blows his [expletive] brains out in the very near future.”
The indictment alleges several instances in which Streavel knowingly and willfully threatened to kill and inflict bodily harm on Donald Trump, who then was the President-elect of the United States.
On November 12, 2024, Streavel posted a message on Facebook that read, in part, that he was “willing to make America great again and blow his [expletive] brains out.”
On November 19, 2024, Streavel posted a Facebook message that read, in part, “Let me put a bullet right between the ears of your president-elect…That’s my purpose for living.”
On November 28, 2024, Streavel wrote on Facebook, “I’m praying for a successful assassination of your president-elect” and “My life’s mission is killing the worthless LOSER [expletive] and my mission starts tonight so watch yourself trump [sic], you are a dead [expletive] and I am your assassin.”
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
If convicted, Streavel would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.
The United States Secret Service is investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Matt Coe-Odess of the Domestic Security and Immigration Crimes Section is prosecuting this case.
Release No. 25-165
