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Florida man arrested for threatening to ‘slit Biden’s throat’ two days after Trump assassination attempt

According to authorities, the man wrote statements on his X account such as ‘Joe biden’s health is declining rapidly. Not doing too good at all. Should I finish him off?’

Amelia Neath
Thursday 18 July 2024 15:19 BST
Related video: Joe Biden walks slowly off Air Force One after testing positive for Covid

Two days after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a suspect was arrested for threatening to kill President Joe Biden.

Jason Patrick Alday, 39, was arrested on federal charges by the US Marshals Service Task Force on Monday following a series of disturbing comments and online statements including a threat to “slit his throat,” the Justice Department said.

According to court filings, obtained by The Independent, the Secret Service received a call from an intake coordinator at a mental health facility in Florida about Aladay – claiming that during his intake process on June 25, the 39-year-old said: “I don’t like President Biden. I want to kill him, slit his throat.”

Deputies from the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office and a Secret Service agent interviewed Alday on July 1 at his parent’s home, where he said he could not recall making those statements about Biden while at the mental health facility and denied making the threat, although did admit that he did not like Biden, the court documents say.

The Secret Service found an X account on July 11, which posted statements such as “I’ll kill joe biden today!!” and another post on June 30 that said, “sources: Joe biden’s health is declining rapidly. Not doing too good at all. Should I finish him off?” the filings alleged.

Other posts throughout July also called the Secret Service agent who interviewed Alday a racial slur and threatened him, the documents said.

The account was reviewed by the Secret Service and, according to the authorities, they identified the name Jason Alday.

He was charged with making threats against the president, threatening communication, and making threats against a federal official.

While being ordered to detention, US magistrate Judge Charles A Stampelos acknowledged the defense counsel’s arguments in an order of detention filing that Alday “does not have the apparent ability to carry out any threat and he has not taken any steps to carry out his threats – he was just venting on the internet because he has mental health issues.”

Meanwhile, “the Government offered that it goes too far to say the Defendant cannot carry out the threats,” the documents said.

Alday’s mother said her son “has schizoaffective disorder and ADHD, and he is bipolar and on the autism spectrum,” and takes several medications and receives therapy at home.

She added that she has never seen Alday with a firearm and that he does not drive.

President Joe Biden walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware after abandoning his campaign trail in Las Vegas after Covid diagnosis on Wednesday
President Joe Biden walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware after abandoning his campaign trail in Las Vegas after Covid diagnosis on Wednesday (AP)

The documents state that law enforcement had been to their home previously to escort Alday to the mental health center, and on one of those occasions, a deputy told his mother that Alday had pushed him.

The authorities also stated in the filings that while Alday was previously being monitored, he lost his ankle bracelet, and “a battery resulted” when the probation officer went to investigate.

While his mother made a case for Alday to come home, the government authorities asserted that “even the most restrictive home conditions are not sufficient in this case because of Defendant’s history of threatening law enforcement,” the filing stated.

The federal public defender for Alday told The Independent that neither of them have any comment at this time.

Trump’s ear had been left wounded as bullets were shot toward the former president by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, bullets that also seriously injured two rallygoers and left another man dead after he shielded his family.

It has been revealed that in the month before the shooting, in what is believed to be an assassination attempt on Trump, a man from Quincy, Florida, had been making threats against Biden and federal officials.

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