Trump Assassination Threats: DOJ Charges Inland Empire Man

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — A 73-year-old San Bernardino County man was arraigned Tuesday on a federal grand jury indictment charging him with threatening to assassinate then-President-elect Donald Trump after last year’s election.

Thomas Eugene Streavel of Yucca Valley is charged with three counts of making threats against the President-elect.

Streavel was arrested Monday and was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Riverside. He pleaded not guilty to all charges, and a trial date of July 28 was scheduled. A federal magistrate judge ordered him released on $10,000 bond.

According to a federal grand jury indictment returned on May 29 and unsealed Tuesday, Streavel used his Facebook account before and after the 2024 U.S. presidential election to post multiple messages expressing his desire to harm or have others harm Trump.

Federal prosecutors allege that on Nov. 6 — 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."

On Nov. 12, the defendant posted a Facebook message that read, in part, that he was "willing to make America great again and blow his [expletive] brains out," according to prosecutors.

"Let me put a bullet right between the ears of your president-elect…That’s my purpose for living," Streavel allegedly posted on Nov. 19.

Prosecutors said that on Nov. 28, he 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."

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said Streavel threatened Trump's life and vowed that the DOJ will "prosecute this crime to the fullest extent of the law."

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said, "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. 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."

Prosecutors did not connect Streavel to recent assassination attempts on Trump, including the 2024 incident at a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally that left Trump's right ear wounded. Two people were killed: an innocent spectator and the would-be assassin.

Another failed assassination attempt occurred the same year while Trump was in Florida. Trump was uninjured.