Man furious over Chinese spy balloon jailed for threatening Kevin McCarthy

A Billings, Montana, man was convicted Wednesday of threatening former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the government’s handling of a Chinese spy balloon that hovered over the continental United States last year.

According to an Associated Press (AP) report, a 12-person jury found 45-year-old Richard Rogers guilty of threatening a McCarthy employee on February 3, 2023, a day after Pentagon officials announced they were tracking the spy. balloon that was sighted over Montana while traveling across the country.

Ultimately, the balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. Defense officials said at the time that they had decided not to shoot down the balloon while it was hovering over land for fear it might injure people on the ground.

According to prosecutors, Rogers’ threats were carried out in a series of more than 100 phone calls to the office of McCarthy, a former GOP representative from California, over a 75-minute period.

Rogers was also convicted on two counts of making harassing phone calls while communicating with McCarthy’s office and during 150 calls he made to the FBI hotline in 2021 and 2022. The AP reported that the defendant frequently used vulgar and obscene language.

Rogers testified during the three-day trial that his calls to the FBI and McCarthy, who resigned last year after being removed as speaker, were a form of “civil disobedience.” Prosecutors argued in court that Rogers’ threats against McCarthy’s life, as well as his vulgar and sexist language toward lawmakers’ staff and FBI telephone operators, fell outside protected speech under the First Amendment.

“You can’t talk to people like that. It’s common sense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Godfrey said during the trial, as reported by the AP. “He’s not calling because of a political protest; he calls because he gets pleasure from it.”

Rogers is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31 and faces six years in prison and a $250,000 fine for threatening a member of Congress. He also faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the two harassment charges.

Newsweek on Wednesday by email to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana for additional comment.

Political violence against elected officials has increased in the U.S. in recent years. Last month, the Justice Department said it was increasing security measures ahead of the 2024 elections in light of the increased threat, namely two attacks on Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump in recent months.

“The Department does not tolerate violence or illegal threats of violence against public officials, government offices or election infrastructure,” Deputy Attorney General Carlos Uriarte said last month. “These crimes are attacks on our democracy.”