US Congressional Sheriff Tom Manger said his department made nearly 10,000 threats against members of Congress in 2021, marking the highest number of threats ever against members of Congress. legislative branch.
“There’s 9,000 a year, or 9,600 this year,” he told reporters as he left after testifying before the Senate Rules Committee. “So you’re getting more than one day.”
Earlier this week, Manger was doing an interview with the Washington Post’s Tom Jackman when he received a warning about another threat. “I think it was an anonymous text, you know, from someone who had threatened to kill a senator. And you know, when I was talking to [Jackman], this shows up on my phone. ”
“That’s every day. he said.
Manger said the department doesn’t respond to every case, because not every threat is considered credible, rather, “some of them are basically just some kind of related statement.”
“If you say ‘I’ll kill like that and that’ it’s a threat. You know, we investigate it as a criminal act. Some of them are, you get something that says they’re going to call an MP’s office and say, ‘Hey, I know where you live. I watched you walk your dog yesterday. ‘ And you know, now, there’s no law against that message. But is that a concern, certainly a concern for that particular congressman? Sure.”
He said threats have increased over the past four or five years, and more than doubled since four years ago. But at the same time, the force has been losing officers, with Manger saying the force is now down by 447 officers from its position.
“In 2017, I think there were about 4,000 people,” he said. “Last year it was 8,600. This year it’s 9,600. So the workload is increasing day by day. We’ve increased the number of people working to investigate the strikes against Congress, but I tell you, we can barely keep our heads above water. “
