Pennsylvania man arrested after allegedly making online threats against FBI agents

Authorities have arrested a Pennsylvania man for making violent threats against FBI agents online.

The Department of Justice announced that Adam Bies, 46, was arrested late Friday in Mercer, Pennsylvania. Bies has been charged with influencing, impeding, or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers.

FBI agents said Bies allegedly made multiple violent threats against law enforcement on the social media website Gab in the days after the FBI raid at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, according to court documents. In social media posts, Bies allegedly stated: "My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop” and “If You Work For The FBI Then You Deserve To Die”.

“Every single piece of [expletive] who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their [expletive] toilets deserves to die. You’ve declared war on us and now it's open season on YOU,” Bies allegedly wrote in an August 10 post.

“HEY FEDS. We the people cannot WAIT to water the trees of liberty with your blood. I’ll be waiting for you to kick down my door," he allegedly wrote in another post.

If convicted, Bies faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, the Justice Department said.

The arrest comes after Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week that law enforcement officials were monitoring violent threats made against top DOJ officials in the wake of the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security also reportedly circulated a joint intelligence bulletin warning of a spike in threats against federal law enforcement officials, NBC News reported Friday.

Recent posts made online included "a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI Headquarters and issuing general calls for 'civil war' and 'armed rebellion,'" according to the bulletin.

Users on pro-Trump internet forums erupted with outrage after Trump confirmed the FBI executed a search at his home on Aug. 8 and seized materials, including alleged classified documents, that he allegedly took with him from the White House when he left office in 2021.

An Ohio man was killed in a shootout with police Thursday after he fired a nail gun into the FBI Cincinnati headquarters. The man, Ricky Walter Shiffer, had attended the Jan. 6, 2021, protest at the U.S. Capitol, officials said.

Officials fear the online threats may escalate into real-world violence. FBI Director Christopher Wray has criticized the words used to attack agents, saying, "Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”

Trump told Fox News in an interview Monday that the "temperature has to be brought down."

"People are so angry at what is taking place," Trump said, adding that his aides offered the Department of Justice "whatever we can do to help" their investigation into his handling of classified materials.

"There has never been a time like this where law enforcement has been used to break into the house of a former president of the United States, and there is tremendous anger in the country — at a level that has never been seen before, other than during very perilous times," Trump said.