FILE – Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., speaks during the House Intelligence Committee, Nov. 15, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Michael Shapiro, of South Florida, threatened to kill Swalwell and his children in a series of voice mails left at the California Democrat’s Washington office last month, federal prosecutors said. Shapiro was arrested Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
A man is accused of threatening a U.S. congressperson and the politician’s children. The U.S. Department of Justice did not identify the target in either court documents or a press release, but Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA, 14th District) said it is him.
“No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents,” he wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you.”
No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents. MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) January 4, 2024
The defendant, Florida man Michael Shapiro, 72, allegedly left five voicemail message for Swalwell at the congressman’s Washington D.C. office on Dec. 19, 2023.
From prosecutors in their press release:
In one of the messages, Shapiro stated that he was going to “come after you and kill you …” In another message, he stated that he was going to “come and kill your children …” Shapiro allegedly placed the threatening calls from his home in Greenacres.
“You mother-[expletive], I’m gonna come after you and kill you [N-word],” Shapiro said, according to a complaint viewed by Law&Crime.
His repeated uttering of the name “Fang” is in apparent reference to Christine Fang, also reportedly known as “Fang Fang.” She was accused of being a spy for the Chinese government, cozying up to American politicians like Swalwell.
The House ethics committee took no action against the congressman for his link to Fang, who he called a “campaign volunteer.” A House Republican filed the underlying complaint against him, according to Axios. Swalwell called the complaint a smear.
In their press release, the DOJ said Shapiro previously pleaded guilty in federal court to making interstate threats. The timing does not quite sync up, but records show that a man under the name off Michael Shapiro — who had the same Greenacres, Florida, address as the defendant in the Swalwell threats — pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2020, to transmitting threats through interstate and foreign communications. He received three years of probation.
Documents in that case indicate Shapiro made threats to two congresspeople and an adult son of one of the politicians.
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