February 4, 2020

Man Charged With Threatening Adam Schiff Said He “Likely Was Upset” by Fox News Segment

The expletive-laden phone call to Schiff’s Capitol Hill office was kind of terrifying.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), walks to the Senate Chamber inside at the U.S. Capitol. ritten questions from Senators on Wednesday. Mark Wilson/Getty

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

After House Democrats introduced an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump on September 24 for allegedly abusing power to dig up dirt on former Vice President and 2020 candidate Joe Biden, Fox News, not surprisingly, responded with a torrent of rhetorical attacks against the Democrats generally and the House leadership in particular. Network stars Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson closely interrogated the motives of Democratic leaders, like speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA), accusing Democrats of being in a state of “hysteria.”

As the political storm became more intense over the following days, one Arizona viewer allegedly decided to act. According to Arizona District Court documents and reporting from The Informant, “[o]n or about October 1, 2019,” Jan Peter Meister, a Tucson resident and convicted sex offender, picked up the phone, dialed Schiff’s Capitol Hill office, and left a profanity-laden voicemail:

“Go fuck your mother, you son of a bitch cause I’m gonna fucking blow your brains out you fucking piece of shit mother, fucker, you’re a fucking piece of shit. You fucking piece of shit mother fucker. Yeah watch. I’m gonna fuck your asshole you piece of shit son of a bitch. Yeah come get me. I guarantee I’ll fuck your brains out.”

During Meister’s subsequent arrest October 25, law enforcement agents found two pistols, one rifle and about 800 rounds of ammunition—weapons he wasn’t legally allowed to own because of his prior felony convictions. Between the threatening phone call and the charge of  unlawfully possessing weapons, Meister faces two felony counts and is pleading not guilty to both of them. He remains incarcerated, with a trial date slated for February 11.

A motion submitted by his lawyers requesting that the two charges be tried separately characterized Meister as a frequent Fox News viewer with an aversion to Democrats. According to the motion, when confronted by law enforcement at his arrest, “He told them that he watches Fox News and likely was upset at something that he saw on the news.” Though Meister said the phone call was “out of character” and apologized, he also declared that he “strongly dislikes the Democrats, and feels they are to blame for the country’s political issues.” 

The indictment is available here:

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate