A New Mexico man has been sentenced to roughly 10 months in federal prison after admitting to issuing violent threats against President Donald Trump across multiple social media platforms earlier this year, prompting a joint Secret Service and FBI investigation.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, 38-year-old Tyler Miles Leveque of Albuquerque posted repeated threats between January 2 and January 4, 2025, targeting then President-elect Trump and several public figures. His posts appeared on TikTok, X, and Facebook.
In a TikTok video posted January 2, Leveque warned unnamed individuals to be “scared” and claimed he did not care if he died, concluding the video with the phrase “Run, run,” authorities said. On January 3, he escalated his threats on X, writing directly to President Trump, “I got my eyes on you sir! Can’t wait for your Victory rally! The 19th right!? Lol you and your rich friends are dead no threat a promise.”
Leveque also tagged public figures and business leaders, warning, “It’s too late for y’all… see u on the 19th for war!” In response to one of President Trump’s posts, he simply replied, “Die.”
The following day, Leveque posted on Facebook that he had “just bought my first gun” and wrote additional threats suggesting he was preparing for violence. When federal agents arrived at his home on January 6, they confirmed he had purchased a firearm online, though he had not yet taken possession of it.
Leveque argued his posts were protected speech, but investigators informed him that threats of violence fall outside First Amendment protections. He later pled guilty to making threats against the president and successors to the presidency.
Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison emphasized the seriousness of the offense, stating, “Threatening violence against public officials is a serious federal offense… such threats carry significant, lifelong consequences.” Secret Service and FBI officials echoed that violent threats—online or otherwise—will continue to be aggressively investigated.
Leveque will also serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
His threats came amid a volatile period: President Trump had already survived two assassination attempts in 2024—first at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and then during a September incident near Trump International Golf Course. In the latter case, the would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, was found guilty of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and multiple related charges.
