Federal agents have arrested a Phoenix man who allegedly posted comments to social media last year in which he threatened to murder President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Haris.
David Michael Hanson, 41, faces multiple federal criminal charges after he allegedly posted the threats to social media in November and December 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
The Albuquerque Journal identified Hanson as a former student at the University of New Mexico who also threatened to commit a massacre on the campus around the same time that the threats were leveled toward Biden and Harris.
One of the posts unequivocally stated: “#joeAndKamala I’m asking you to resign on Monday your alternative is death brutally murdered.”
After learning about the initial threat on Nov. 19, U.S. Secret Service agents showed up at a shelter in downtown Phoenix and confronted Hanson, warning him that it was a federal crime to threaten the life of the president and other administration officials.
Hanson told agents that “he was just ranting in the moment on a platform that nobody follows,” and no arrest was made at that time.
Authorities did not reveal the name of the platform where the threats were posted.
Weeks later, Hanson made another series of threatening social media posts just two days before Christmas, prompting nearly a dozen federal charges that led to Hanson’s arrest on Jan. 26.
He faces five counts of threats against the president and successors to the presidency, as well as five counts of interstate communication of threats.
Hanson told agents that he made the threatening posts because he was trying to draw “attention to his plight” as he was dealing with a major academic and personal setback and asserted that he never intended to follow through on the threats.
Hanson told authorities that his application to enter the master’s program at UNM was rejected following an alleged encounter with a female student that prompted a misconduct complaint against him.
University officials said Hanson is not currently enrolled, although officials acknowledged he attended classes intermittently through the years and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the school a decade ago.
He was most recently enrolled as a student in fall 2023.
After the university became aware of the online threats, campus officials moved swiftly to assess the danger to the campus and the wider community, but Hanson was out of town at the time, and no emergency actions were taken.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release for each count.
The Secret Service is leading the investigation into Hanson, while U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino will prosecute the case if it ultimately goes to trial.
