At a press conference today, Speaker John Boehner addressed the arrest of a man who allegedly planned to poison him in Ohio:
“We live in a dangerous country,” said Boehner, “and we get reminded every week of the dangers that are out there. We saw what happened in Paris a week ago.
“My personal situation, I’m not going to get into it, but, you know, it’s one thing to get a threat from far away. It’s another when it’s three doors from where you live. Obviously, this young man has got some health issues, mental health issues, that need to be addressed, and I hope you get the help that he needs. But I do want to thank the FBI and the Capitol Police, West Chester Police, and others [who worked to] resolved this issue rather quickly.
“With regard to the threat to the Capitol, coming frankly not far from where I live, the first thing that strikes me is that we would have never known about this had it not been for the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] program and our ability to collect information on people who pose an imminent threat.
“I’m going to see this one more time because you will hear about for months and months to come as we attempt to reauthorize the FISA program. Our government does not spy on Americans unless they are Americans who are doing things that frankly tip off our law enforcement officials to an imminent threat. It was our law enforcement officials and those programs that helped us stop this person before he committed a heinous crime in our nation’s capital.”
