Jeffries identified himself as the lawmaker in the complaint Tuesday. In an interview with Chris Hayes of MSNBC, Jeffries said his brother received the message just as members were evacuated from the Capitol when armed rioters stormed the building to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election. President Donald Trump was indicted next week on charges of inciting the insurgency, and several of the rioters publicly said they were motivated to storm the Capitol because of Trump.
For months, Trump has cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and has put forward conspiracy theories and lies that have taken the Democrats away from him. Biden has won both the popular vote and the Electoral College, and election officials from both parties across the country have said there is no evidence of widespread irregularities.
‘What’s cool about the message received is that this person said,’ Stop telling lies. Biden did not win. He will not be president, ” Jeffries told Hayes on Tuesday. “And that’s why he was radicalized by the big lie that Donald Trump told and that was supported by so many Republicans in the House and Senate.”
A family member of an unidentified journalist in New York also received a threatening message from Lemke.
“Words endanger you and your family”, reads the message according to the charge sheet. “We are armed and ready nearby. Thousands of us are active / retired law enforcers, military, etc. This is how we do it. ”
Trump repeatedly referred to journalists as the “enemy of the people,” and several reporters at the Capitol said during the attack that they had been assaulted and their equipment destroyed.
Lemke was arrested in Bay Point, California, according to a news release. He is charged with making threatening interstate communications, which could carry up to five years in prison.
“Instead of agreeing peacefully, Lemke allegedly threatened to harm the individuals’ families, demanding that they withdraw their statements,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in the release in Manhattan. “The election process is the essential mechanism by which our democracy functions. While in any election it is inevitable that some will be disappointed with the outcome, threats of violence can and cannot be tolerated. ”
Lemke claims in his messages and on social media that he was a former law enforcement officer or military veteran, according to the complaint. His complaint indicated on his Facebook profile and phone records that he was a former member of the sheriff’s department in Alameda County. But the department issued a statement Tuesday denied that he had any connection to Lemke.
“There is a lot of false information on social media that a Robert Lemke worked for the sheriff of Alameda,” the department said. “The information is untrue by the FBI and our agency.”