Threats Against Public Officials

Federal supervised‑releasee Diedrich Holgate, 47, has been taken back into custody in Oregon after allegedly sending a series of text messages to his probation officer threatening to kill President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden and demanding a presidential pardon. Holgate was convicted and sentenced last July for earlier threats made on social media and in multiple calls to the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, in which he said he had 'the right to kill the president' and threatened Trump, Biden, the First Lady and Supreme Court justices. Released on Jan. 21 to a halfway house, he now faces a revocation petition alleging multiple violations, including the new death threats ('Trump's gonna fkn pardon me or I'll kill him!!!!'), failing to report to a meeting, leaving the halfway house and breaking house rules. A magistrate judge has already found probable cause that he violated the terms of supervised release, and Holgate will remain jailed until a further hearing set for March 26. The case illustrates how federal authorities treat explicit threats against current and former presidents and how quickly supervised release can be revoked when such threats continue.