A man who allegedly sent messages to Rep. Matt Gaetz’s office saying he would “put a bullet in [him],” among other death threats, was arrested last week in California.
Eugene Huelsman, 58, is accused of sending messages that he would kill Gaetz, a Florida Republican, and his family shortly after the Jan. 6 riot, according to an indictment returned in May by a federal grand jury in Florida.
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“Tell [M.G.] to watch his back, tell him to watch his children … I’m coming for him, he’s gonna f***ing die … I’m gonna f***ing kill him … Watch your back, I’m coming for you,” read a message left on Jan. 9, according to the indictment. “I’m gonna put a bullet in you and I’m gonna put a bullet in one of your f***ing kids too.”
The jury returned the indictment on May 18, but it was previously sealed because the “current whereabouts of the defended [were] unknown.” Huelsman is set to appear before a judge on Friday in Pensacola, Florida. Though the target of the threat is only referred to as “M.G” in the indictment, Gaetz confirmed to Politico he was the one who received the message.
“An indictment was issued in May and has now been unsealed the week after my criticism,” Gaetz said. “If they took our security seriously, they would arrest all of the people who violate federal law and the threats to kill us, not just some of them … I think that the Department of Justice is biased against Republicans.”
Gaetz said on the House floor on Oct. 20 that he received credible threats against his life. In the case he referred to, a Twitter user allegedly sent a message saying he had accepted a hit job on Gaetz. The two incidents do not seem to be related.
“I’m glad that prosecutors in the Northern District of Florida take death threats against me and my family seriously,” Gaetz said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “I wish that were an ethic across the DOJ enterprise.”
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Gaetz himself is currently under investigation by the DOJ for allegedly soliciting sex from a 17-year-old. Gaetz denies all allegations.
Though Huelsman’s alleged threats said he would target Gaetz’s children, the representative does not have children with his wife Ginger Luckey, who he married in August. He has previously spoken about having a parental relationship with the younger brother of an ex-girlfriend.
