A Trump supporter who allegedly threatened to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and brought guns to Washington, D.C., was hammered by a federal on Wednesday after saying in court that he was just “having fun” when he vowed to “remove several craniums from shoulders” and “collect a sh*t ton of Traitors heads.”
Federal court documents allege that Cleveland Meredith also wanted to shoot DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and “Burn DC to the FKG ground.”
Meredith, whose arsenal included a red, white and blue handgun, Taver X95 rifle with a telescopic sight, high-capacity magazines and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition, also texted that “I predict that within the next 12 days, many in our country will die.”
“We’re gonna surround DC and slowly constrict,” he wrote in one message.
Meredith also included messages to federal agents in texts, apparently believing the authorities were intercepting his rants.
“I hope you’re reading this Mr. FBI agent FK U,” he wrote in one text.
“Hauling ass, 3.5 hours from target practice,” he said in one message, according to prosecutors. “Ready to remove several craniums from shoulders. I’m gonna collect a sh*t ton of Traitors heads.”
He drove from Colorado to the nation’s capital but arrived too late to take part in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to court documents.
Meredith’s lawyers argued Wednesday at a detention hearing that he was just joking — “LOL, I’m just having fun,” he wrote at one point — but Judge Amy Berman Jackson wasn’t amused, noted Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman.
“The problem with this argument, of course, is that defendant’s statements were not the least bit funny,” Jackson found. “No one was laughing out loud then or now.”
Jackson refused to grant Meredith release from jail while he awaits trial for threats against Pelosi and illegally bringing ammunition into the District of Columbia, and the judge took aim at Trump allies who continue to promote his election lies.
“Six months later, the canard that the election was stolen is being repeated daily on major news outlets and from the corridors of power in state and federal government, not to mention in the near-daily fulminations of the former President,” Jackson wrote in her decision.
Read the charging documents posted by Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman below.
Meredith's lawyer argued his threats weren't meant to be taken seriously; he wrote at one point: "LOL. I’m just having fun."
ABJ: "The problem with this argument, of course, is that defendant’s statements were not the least bit funny. No one was laughing out loud then or now." pic.twitter.com/JM9iPDcgUe
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) May 26, 2021
