NEW YORK- A New York man was arrested and charged Friday by federal prosecutors with threatening to assault and murder two US senators in retaliation for their support of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
The man, Ronald DeRisi, left more than 10 threatening and “expletive-laced” voicemails for the two senators beginning September 27, according to the complaint unsealed Friday by prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
In one message, DeRisi said he had a “present” for one of the senators, the complaint says, adding: “It’s a nine millimeter. Side of your f—ing skull, you scumbag motherf—er.” He finished the call by saying, “Yeah, Kavanaugh — I don’t think so.”
The two senators are not identified by name in the complaint. The date DeRisi allegedly began leaving the messages is the same day both Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, a professor who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were in high school, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Kavanaugh denied those allegations and was confirmed earlier this month.
“Representative democracy cannot work if elected officials are threatened with death for simply doing their job,” US Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement.
DeRisi, a 74-year-old resident of Smithtown, New York, is due to appear in federal court in Central Islip on Friday afternoon.
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