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First Twitter User Arrested For Tweeting Threats To Assassinate Donald Trump

By Tara West
Published on: 05:13 PST, Nov 15, 2016

A 24-year-old man from Ohio has been the first arrested for posting threatening tweets regarding his desire to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump. Zachary Benson was questioned by Secret Service after he took to Twitter to express his outrage and plans following the 2016 presidential election results. Benson noted that his “life goal is to assassinate Trump.” He went on to say he doesn’t care if he serves “infinite sentences” for the assassination as “that man deserves to decease (sic) existing.”

The Daily Mail reports that 24-year-old Zachary Benson has been arrested for threatening tweets sent out on election night about President-elect Donald Trump. Benson noted that he wanted to personally assassinate Donald Trump and that he didn’t mind the consequences.

“My life goal is to assassinate Trump. Don’t care if I serve infinite sentences. That man deserves to decease (sic) existing.”

Benson didn’t stop with stating he wanted to kill the president-elect, he went on to say he wanted to bomb polling places and general areas of where people voted for Trump.

“Diplomacy. F***ing fools. I hate you all. I want to bomb every one of your voting booths and your general areas.”

However, little did Benson know, he would be facing those consequences sooner rather than later. Though Benson now claims the post was in “frustration,” the Secret Service says that a threat against a president or president-elect is a federal offense that could result in fines and up to five years in prison. The result, Benson became the first person arrested for tweeting assassination threats against President-elect Donald Trump. However, more arrests are likely given the stream of assassination tweets posted to the social media platform following the historic election.

Though Benson was the first arrested, he was not the first questioned by the Secret Service this election cycle. Before Trump winning the presidency, numerous Twitter users were questioned by the Secret Service for threatening the presidential candidate. Mashable reports that leading into the election, the Secret Service showed up on the doorsteps of Twitter users who had threatened to harm Trump.

One Twitter user Eli Martinez says he was in bed at his home in a Chicago suburb when the Secret Service showed up at his door to question him about a threatening tweet he made about Trump. The result, the agents “questioned the hell” out of him before finally deeming him not a real threat to the now president-elect. Others experienced the same with police officers or Secret Service showing up at their homes to ask questions about their tweets.

“A 29-year-old Iowan woman said she ‘tweeted something like ‘just let me shoot, you a**'” while waiting outside a gun range as Trump’s sons shot rifles inside. Agents showed up at her workplace and told her she could spend 10 years in prison for her now-deleted tweet, of which they had a screenshot.”

The Secret Service has an “internet threat desk” that deals specifically with these types of threats and are taking all threats seriously. Therefore, if you tweet that you want to harm the president-elect or currently seated president, you can expect a visit from authorities in the coming days.

Mashable notes that it isn’t just Twitter that the Secret Service is following either.

“The Secret Service isn’t just tracking what happens on Twitter, and it doesn’t only look for threats against Trump. An Egyptian student who posted a comment to Facebook about killing Trump was recently arrested at school and has since been told to leave the country within 120 days. In February, the Secret Service tracked down a Bernie Sanders supporter who tried to place an obituary for Hillary Clinton in a Las Vegas newspaper — a stunt he claims was for ‘political humor.'”

The Secret Service says that in addition to cyber threats, they are also taking the 2017 Inauguration Day very seriously and are already preparing to ensure a smooth transition of power.

What do you think about the arrest of those threatening to kill the President-elect Donald Trump on Twitter?

[Featured Image by Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department]

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