A New Hampshire man has been charged with threatening to kill a U.S. senator because he was angry that the senator was “blocking military promotions,” federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Brian Landry, 66, of Franklin, is accused of calling and leaving a threatening voicemail at a district field office of a senator on May 17, according to court documents.
Prosecutors did not name the senator in their complaint.
“Hey stupid, I’m a veteran sniper,” Mr. Landry said in the voice mail. “Unless you change your ways, I got my scope pointed in your direction and I’m coming to get you. You’re a dead man walking,” finishing with some expletives.
Landry later told investigators that he had called the senator’s office because he had heard on the news that the senator was “blocking military promotions,” according to court documents.
Landry admitted to federal investigators that he had called the senator’s office but did not recall exactly what he said, the U.S. attorney’s office said. It was not immediately known if he is being represented by an attorney.
Landry was arrested Friday, according to the court record. A public defender was appointed, and conditions for his release were laid out. These include a requirement “to contact his healthcare provider at the VA” to undergo a mental and physical evaluation. A hearing has been set for July 3.
If convicted, Landry faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Entitlement programs for veterans is a broad topic. But on the issue of blocking military promotions, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama looms large. For several months now, Alabama’s senior senator has blocked the advancement of high-level Department of Defense nominees as part of a dispute over healthcare policies that make it easier for service members to travel to areas where abortions are accessible.
Efforts to reach Tuberville’s office for comment on Sunday were not immediately successful.
Redacted court records do not name Tuberville as the target of the alleged threat.
His stance has been contentious, with the Biden administration, Senate Democrats and some military leaders saying it hurts military readiness. In May, a bipartisan group of seven former secretaries of state wrote that Tuberville’s hold “risks turning military officers into political pawns.”
Tuberville has maintained that the policies he’s concerned about violate the law and that top miliary officials have assured him the hold has no effect on readiness. “My hold has no effect on readiness. None,” he said in early May. “In an Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Chairman Reed asked two of the military’s top combatant commanders what impact would my hold gave on readiness. Admiral John Aquilino said, quote, ‘no impact.’ General Paul LaCamera agreed. There is no impact on readiness or operations.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he disagrees Tuberville’s holds and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, has called the actions “outrageous.”
Tuberville’s national security adviser reportedly stepped down from his post after claiming a Washington Post profile “overstated” his role in the senator’s hold on military nominations.
Morgan Murphy told Politico he stepped down in deference to Tuberville, who was bothered by the Post piece’s characterization that Murphy was instrumental in getting the senator to hold the nominations.
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