A former employee of Voice of America was arrested on Thursday on charges of repeatedly threatening to kill Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and others.
Seth Jason, who previously worked as a studio supervisor and lighting director at the federally funded news agency, was charged with four felonies in the case. Prosecutors accused Mr. Jason of making eight calls — from Oct. 11, 2023, to Jan. 21, 2025 — threatening to kill Ms. Greene, her staff, and their families with “the use of firearms.”
“The U.S. Capitol Police investigation revealed that the phone calls were made from various phone lines connected to studios and control rooms at Voice of America headquarters, where Jason had worked as a longtime employee,” the Department of Justice said in a statement announcing his arrest.
Federal prosecutors have previously charged people who have made violent threats against Ms. Greene, a hard-right ally of President Trump in Congress who has more recently had public disagreements with the president. In the years before she was elected to Congress, Ms. Greene repeatedly endorsed executing top Democratic politicians on social media.
“Threatening an elected official, their family, or their staff is not free speech,” Ms. Greene said in a statement thanking law enforcement officials for bringing the case. “It’s a crime, and it must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. My family and I are incredibly grateful.”
The department did not describe the threats in detail in its statement, and investigators have not provided additional information in court filings. A lawyer for Mr. Jason declined to comment.
But the nature of the charges against Mr. Jason suggest that prosecutors will portray his actions as politically motivated. The two most serious charges he faces accuse him of making threats as a means to coerce Ms. Greene, either intending to intimidate the congresswoman or to punish her for her official conduct.
Those two charges — influencing a federal official by threatening them and influencing a federal official by threatening the official’s family — each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The government accuses Mr. Jason of making most of the threats during the Biden administration, and making a final threatening call on Jan. 21, the second day of President Trump’s second term. That was months before Mr. Trump began his sweeping effort to dismantle Voice of America, which once reached millions worldwide but whose operations have now been sharply reduced.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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