Gun-toting suspect indicted in ‘attempt to assassinate’ Kavanaugh

Nicholas Roske, 26, traveled thousands of miles and showed up at Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland after midnight with burglary tools, a knife, a gun, and a pair of special boots with outer soles allowing stealth movement inside a house, though he walked away when he spotted a pair of deputy U.S. marshals, who were part of the Supreme Court justice’s security force, outside the justice’s home, according to court records.

The new indictment lists one count: “Attempt to Assassinate Justice of the United States.”

“On or about June 8, 2022, in the District of Maryland and elsewhere, the defendant, Nicholas John Roske, with the intent to kill, did attempt to kill … an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court,” the indictment says.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said Wednesday that Roske had been charged with attempting to murder Kavanaugh and that if convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors said the indictment “includes a forfeiture allegation seeking the forfeiture of a firearm, two magazines loaded with 10 rounds each of 9mm ammunition, 17 rounds of ammunition contained in a plastic bag, a black speed loader, and additional items allegedly intended to be used in the commission of the crime.”

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After he turned away from the house and walked down the streets of Kavanaugh’s neighborhood last week, Roske texted his sister, police told the Washington Examiner this week. She convinced Roske to call 911, which he did.

“This kind of behavior is, obviously, it’s behavior — we will not tolerate it,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week. “Threats of violence and actual violence against the justices, of course, strike at the heart of our democracy, and we will do everything we can to prevent them and to hold people that do them accountable.”

Garland added, “For that reason, last month, I accelerated the protection of all the justice’s residences 24/7. Also last month, I met with the marshal of the [Supreme Court]. I convened a meeting with her, as well as with the deputy director of the FBI, the director of the [U.S.] Marshals Service, and with our own law enforcement, our own prosecutors, to ensure every degree of protection available as possible.”

Authorities released 911 call records showing Roske called the police on himself before executing his plan. It was just after 1 a.m. Wednesday when Roske, who is from Simi Valley, California, called the police on himself, saying, “I need psychiatric help.” He had called a cab to the home of Kavanaugh before walking away just outside of it. He told the operator that he had shown up to hurt “Brett Kavanaugh … the Supreme Court justice.”

Roske reported having suicidal and homicidal thoughts, as well as an intent to assassinate the sitting Supreme Court justice, according to court records.

Roske further told investigators he was angry about the possibility of the high court overturning Roe v. Wade in a forthcoming decision on the Supreme Court’s docket and also believed Kavanaugh would play a role in upholding Second Amendment rights and loosening gun laws in a separate high-profile case yet to be decided this term.

Police said they later searched the bag and suitcase locked with zip ties that Roske showed up with and found two magazines and ammunition to go along with the suspect’s freshly purchased pistol, a pistol light, a black tactical chest rig, a tactical knife, and pepper spray. He also had on him what appeared to be burglary tools, including a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crowbar, and hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles. Roske was also found to have duct tape and additional zip ties.

The Supreme Court quickly began an investigation into last month’s leak of a draft opinion that signaled the high court is poised to overturn Roe and more recently began searches into mobile phone data for high court clerks and required them to sign legal affidavits as part of the inquiry. The leak drew protesters to the Supreme Court and to the homes of Kavanaugh, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Top Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday demanding answers over a lack of criminal prosecution surrounding “illegal picketing” outside the homes of justices.

The Justice Department did not comment on why it was not enforcing 18 U.S. Code § 1507, which prohibits “pickets or parades” near judge’s homes when such protests are done “with the intent of influencing any judge.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and 10 other Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter asking Garland why the DOJ has not prosecuted dozens of protesters who showed up outside the homes of several justices in recent weeks.

“Somehow, the situation is only escalating. Not only did the illegal picketing resume mere hours after the assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh, but reports are that those seeking to intimidate the Justices at their homes plan to expand their campaign of harassment to their children’s schools. Enough,” McConnell wrote in the letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.

In remarks earlier this month, Garland acknowledged that McConnell’s letter “suggests that some individuals may have violated federal criminal law” but deferred to long-standing DOJ policy not to confirm or deny any investigation, adding, “Do not interpret this acknowledgment as confirmation or denial of an investigation.”

McConnell delivered a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday in which he singled out President Joe Biden.

“President Biden won’t even denounce the ongoing protests at judges’ private homes, and our supposedly nonpolitical attorney general will not lift a finger to enforce existing federal law,” McConnell said.

The U.S. attorney and the FBI’s assistant director in charge for the nation’s capital said in a joint statement Friday that “we will not tolerate violence, destruction, interference with government functions, or trespassing on government property,” including at the Supreme Court. It did not mention the justice’s homes.

The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday to broaden security for justices and their families, with all of the 27 votes opposing the bill coming from Democrats.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis issued a mid-May memo that stated numerous violent social media threats discussed “burning down or storming the U.S. Supreme Court and murdering Justices and their clerks, members of Congress, and lawful demonstrators.”

The memo added that “grievances related to restricting abortion access could fuel violence by pro-choice abortion-related violent extremists and other [domestic violent extremists].”

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