A Rhode Island man indicted for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Donald J. Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller remains free on a GPS ankle monitor after two Democrat-affiliated federal judges refused the U.S. Department of Justice’s motions to jail him pending trial.
Carl D. Montague, 37, of Providence, was charged in an August 13 indictment with threats against the president, interstate threats, and threatening to assault, kidnap, or murder a United States official. All are felony charges that carry possible prison terms from five to 20 years.
‘The defendant’s threats … were egregiously violent and unambiguous in his intent to kill all three individuals.’
Montague was originally arrested July 9, and despite four assault convictions since 2014, a magistrate judge refused to jail him on a motion from the DOJ. A President Joe Biden-appointed U.S. district judge later refused another DOJ motion to detain Montague and ordered that he wear a GPS monitoring device instead.
President Trump faced two assassination attempts in 2024, the first by Thomas Crooks in Butler, Pa., on July 13 and the second on Sept. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla., allegedly by Ryan Wesley Routh.
According to the FBI’s probable-cause statement, Montague posted a profanity-laced tirade on Truth Social on June 27:
It’s a shame you won’t get to see the end of your f****** term, because I’m gonna make sure I put a bullet rate [sic] between your f****** head you piece of s***, you Pam Bondi. Stephen f****** miller, all you b******, are gonna get a f****** bullet to the head every single f****** one of you.”
That same day, Truth Social reported the threat to the U.S. Secret Service. On June 28, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received an electronic tip about the threat.
After submitting emergency disclosure requests to Google, Verizon Wireless, and PayPal, the FBI identified Montague as a suspect. Agents went looking for him June 29 at a Providence housing unit associated with Open Doors, a nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated individuals re-enter society.
On June 30, agents visited the apartment of a known associate of Montague in the same complex. The man told them he had not seen Montague “in a few days,” the FBI said. Another resident told agents he was sure Montague was in the apartment they had just visited. When agents returned to that unit, they found Montague hiding in the bathtub, the FBI said.
“Montague began confessing to making threats before agents were able to introduce themselves or explained why they were there,” the FBI statement said.
Montague was shown the Truth Social post, and he “confirmed it was the post he submitted,” the FBI said.
Montague told agents “he was smoking a lot of marijuana when he posted the threat” and claims “he deleted his Truth Social account after sending the message.” He said he didn’t know why he included Bondi and Miller in his posting, except he “observed their names in prior threads and posts.”
Montague was arrested by the FBI on July 9 and named in a criminal complaint. He was released on a $10,000 appearance bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Moses, despite the DOJ’s motion to detain him.
Judge Moses was a law clerk for U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., an appointee of President Barack Obama, and previously served as deputy counsel for Democrat Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo.
‘The defendant’s recent violent threats are the latest in a long history of violent and threatening behavior.’
Less than a week after Moses released Montague, the DOJ filed another motion with a district judge to revoke the release and detain Montague pending trial. The DOJ said that “his release endangers the safety of the persons to whom he directed his threats and the community.”
On July 25, U.S. District Judge Melissa R. DuBose denied the motion to detain Montague and instead ordered a GPS ankle monitor and an 8 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew.
Judge DuBose was appointed to the bench in January 2025 by President Biden. She is the first openly lesbian and black female jurist to serve on the federal bench in the Rhode Island district.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Dulce Donovan, Montague’s threats “were egregiously violent and unambiguous in his intent to kill all three individuals. His posting on June 27, 2025, left nothing to the imagination.”
Montague has “multiple convictions for violent assaults,” Donovan said, including in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2022.
“Further, the defendant committed the first three of these offenses while on probation and after having been court ordered to undergo mental health treatment and/or substance abuse counseling. Put simply, the defendant’s recent violent threats are the latest in a long history of violent and threatening behavior,” Donovan said.
After his initial appearance in federal court July 9, Montague “lashed out in a profanity-laden outburst at reporters who were waiting outside the courthouse,” Donovan said.
“The defendant’s inability to control his behavior immediately following his initial court appearance on charges of threatening to kill the President suggest a person who currently is incapable of adhering to the court’s expectations and live within the bounds of the law,” Donovan wrote in the DOJ motion to detain. “Instead, the defendant has significant mental health and substance abuse issues and lacks the ability to control his aggression.”
An arraignment date for Montague has not been set.
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