Michigan Man Charged With Threatening to Kill FBI Director Kash Patel and an Associate
Federal prosecutors say Anthony Palazzolo of Chesterfield Township sent threats on Facebook and by phone. He was detained, with a hearing set for Monday. A charge is not a conviction.
Federal authorities arrested a Michigan man Friday for allegedly threatening to kill FBI Director Kash Patel and one of his associates, Breitbart reports.
The charge. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan identified the suspect as Anthony Daniel Palazzolo, 42, of Chesterfield Township. The criminal complaint says he sent a Facebook message on Oct. 8 saying he had "put a hit out" on one person and that Patel was "a dead mf too." Prosecutors say that after the FBI interviewed him, he kept harassing a Detroit FBI agent by phone and threatened to come to the office and use deadly force.
In court. Palazzolo appeared in federal court Friday afternoon and was temporarily detained. A detention hearing was set for Nov. 2. Breitbart, citing the Daily Mail and court documents, says he also allegedly messaged the Secret Service, the Supreme Court and a court in Texas, and has a criminal history in Michigan, Texas and Florida. It says he faces a felony count of transmitting threatening interstate communications.
Patel's recent posts. Breitbart adds that Patel wrote this week that the FBI is "crushing 764," a network targeting children online, and that more than 6,000 child predators and human traffickers have been arrested, up 13%. He also said FBI Minneapolis arrested four alleged Medicaid fraudsters tied to more than $41 million in intended fraud and $21.65 million in actual losses. Those figures are Patel's, as relayed by Breitbart.
What to keep in mind. Palazzolo has been charged, not convicted. We have no response from him or a lawyer. The prior-record details come from a Daily Mail report that Breitbart cites, not from the prosecutors' announcement.