Georgia man arrested for allegedly posting death threats against FBI director

A Georgia man has been charged for issuing death threats against FBI Director Christopher Wray.

John Woodbury, 34, was arrested Thursday on two felony charges for allegedly posting threats online last year urging violence against Wray. Woodbury faces one charge of allegedly making threats by interstate communication and another for threatening a federal law enforcement officer.

According to the U. S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, Woodbury, of Roswell, Georgia, wrote a series of violent messages laced with profanity threatening to kidnap, assault and murder Wray.

“It's time to burn… and hang them from trees,” Woodbury allegedly wrote on 4chan.org, according to a grand jury indictment filed last week. “Hit Chris at his home. Make his family fear stepping one foot outside their god damn door."

The indictment alleges that Woodbury’s messages were posted on June 7, 2023, around the time of Donald Trump’s indictment for hoarding classified documents from the White House at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. At the time of the alleged posts, news reports were swirling that Trump’s indictment was imminent. On June 9, 2023, the indictment was unsealed and Trump was charged with 37 felonies.

Woodbury’s arrest comes as the FBI is investigating Thomas Matthew Crooks , 20, in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last week. The attack on Trump is the latest in a long spate of political violence and threats against public officials .

Last month, Timothy Muller , 43, was arrested and charged for allegedly threatening to murder an FBI agent. The special agent received both violent messages and phone calls. “You can steal another election and the guns will come out, and we’ll hunt you,” he said in one voicemail, referencing his support for Trump.

Referring to Woodbury’s case, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan called threats against public servants “heinous.”

“Sending threats to physically harm a public official in an attempt to thwart the administration of justice is a criminal offense,” Buchanan said in a statement. “Threats against such public servants, who have dedicated themselves to enforcing our criminal laws, is especially heinous. Our office will remain steadfast in helping to ensure that public officials are able to carry out their duties free from fear or intimidation.”

Woodbury was charged by a federal grand jury on July 9. He appeared in federal court in Atlanta Thursday and pleaded not guilty to both counts, court records show . Woodbury was released on an unsecured bond of $10,000. The court ordered monitoring for Woodbury’s electronic devices and instructed him to avoid all contact with Wray and his family.