Former Marine gets 18 months in prison for threatening to assassinate Trump

A Texas man, who threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Friday. The 36-year-old former US Army infantryman and Marine, Mickael Gedlu pleaded guilty to the charges in December.

Gedlu’s sentence was announced via video teleconference by Chief US District judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox’s office in Dallas, Daily Mail reports.

According to plea documents, Gedlu confessed to threatening to assassinate the commander-in-chief on social media, stating on YouTube: “I am waiting for Trump to visit Dallas before I attempt to assassinate him,” The Washington Times reports. Gedlu said he threatened the life of Trump across social media between December 2018 and June 2019.

“For 20 straight months now, openly and publicly, I have been calling for President Trump’s death,” the 36-year-old former marine said in another Facebook post. Gedlu’s LinkedIn profile said he served as a Flight Equipment Technician for the US Marine Corps between 2002 and 2008. He was also a Mechanized Infantryman for the US Army between 2007 and 2010.

In May 2017, Gedlu wrote that: “The President of the United States, Donald John Trump, showed up to the Adolphus Hotel, the day after I posted this article, May 31st, in downtown Dallas.”

“I held up a sign saying, KILL TRUMP. I was placed in handcuffs by about 10 Dallas police officer,” Gedlu wrote, confirming prosecutors’ claims.

“I believe it was the SS that suggested I be taken to a hospital instead of jail. I was surprised at the leniency the police showed me as I screamed, “KILL THE PRESIDENT, KILL TRUMP, repetitively. The president showed up, where I was arrested, 2 hours after I was arrested. Grab ’em by the MAGA hat.” 

The sentencing of Gedlu comes at a time Trump is struggling to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak in the US, which has so far infected over one million Americans with 56,634 deaths.

Trump became the third American President to be impeached last month. Deeply divided along party lines, the House of Representatives voted for two articles of impeachment to remove the President from office.

The impeachment inquiry was instigated by complaints of an anonymous whistleblower about a call Trump had with the Ukrainian president in which he asked the latter to investigate former Vice President Joe Bidden.

He was, however, exonerated by the senate.