BAY CITY, MI — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a criminal case against a northern Michigan man accused of threatening President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
After a preliminary investigation in federal court in Bay City, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Morris concluded there was no probable cause and that social media posts attributed to Russell Douglas Warren, 48, of Prudenville, did not pose a “true threat,” The Detroit News reported.
Prosecutors said FBI and U.S. Secret Service agents learned that Warren posted a series of messages last week on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, saying Biden and Harris had been convicted and should be imprisoned and executed. Warren called for Biden to be taken to prison ‘awaiting his execution. He will be hanged.”
Warren “did not say he would do anything to harm the president or (Harris),” Morris told the newspaper via email after the hearing. “His message called for someone or others to ‘take’ him or her and he wanted them to be taken to prison where they would be hanged, which would be accomplished through law enforcement agencies and the courts.
“He did not threaten to take them to a remote location or kidnap them, nor did he threaten to harm them at his own hands,” Morris added.
Warren’s attorney, federal public defender Bryan Sherer, did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Friday evening.