Less than a week after a horrifying survey found more than half of self-identified leftists believe killing President Donald Trump would be justifiable, a Pennsylvania man has been charged with threatening to murder the president and other U.S. officials.
Shawn Monper, 32, of Butler — the same Pennsylvania community where Trump came within a fraction of an inch of being assassinated last July — faces federal charges of making threats to assault and murder Trump, DOGE advisor and Tesla founder Elon Musk, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and others, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“I want to applaud the outstanding and courageous investigative work of the FBI and the Butler Township Police Department, who thankfully identified and apprehended this individual before he could carry out his threats against President Trump’s life and the lives of other innocent Americans,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a press release.
Monper, who allegedly took to YouTube as “Mr. Satan,” made a series of threatening statements between Jan. 15 and last weekend, according to the criminal complaint. On Tuesday, the FBI National Threat Operations Section (NTOS) “received an emergency disclosure,” the Justice Department said. A subsequent federal investigation determined “Mr. Satan” was residing at Monper’s residence, according to the DOJ.
‘We Just Need to Start Killing People’
Monper allegedly “sought and obtained a firearms permit shortly following President Trump’s inauguration.” In February, federal officials said he commented on his YouTube account, “I have bought several guns and been stocking up on ammo since Trump got in office.”
“Eventually im [sic] going to do a mass shooting,” the suspect allegedly wrote in March. A week later, Monper stated: “I have been buying 1 gun a month since the election, body armor, and ammo,” according to the criminal complaint.
Here are the threatening statements Monper allegedly made, according to investigators.
February 17, 2025: “Nah, we just need to start killing people, Trump, Elon, all the heads of agencies Trump appointed, and anyone who stands in the way. Remember, we are the majority, MAGA is a minority of the country, and by the time its [sic] time to make the move, they will be weakened, many will be crushed by these policies, and they will want revenge too. American Revolution 2.0.”
March 4, 2025: “im [sic] going to assassinate him myself.” Wonper allegedly said this in a YouTube video titled “Live: Trump’s address to Congress.”
March 18, 2025: “ICE are terrorist people, we need to start killing them.”
April 1, 2025: “If I see an armed ice agent, I will consider it a domestic terrorist, and an active shooter and open fire on them.”
On Wednesday, the FBI, aided by the Butler Township Police Department, took Monper into custody. He has been “ordered detained pending preliminary and mention hearings,” slated for 1 p.m. on Monday, according to the DOJ.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan J. McKenna is prosecuting the case. Rivetti’s office did not immediately return a request for comment from The Federalist.
“Rest assured that whenever and wherever threats of assassination or mass violence occur, this Department of Justice will find, arrest, and prosecute the suspect to the fullest extent of the law and seek the maximum appropriate punishment,” Bondi said.
‘Assassination Culture’
The alleged assassination threats are just the latest examples of what a new study found is a growing “assassination culture.” As The Federalist reported earlier this week, a report produced by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) in partnership with Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab found that 31 percent stated it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk, and 38 percent said the same about President Trump. These results were largely driven by respondents who self-identified as left of center, with 48 percent and 55 percent at least somewhat justifying the murder of Elon Musk and President Trump, respectively, indicating significantly higher justification for violence against these figures.
“The reports found widespread justification for lethal violence — including assassination — among younger, highly online, and ideologically left-aligned users,” the authors of the study write.
Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet from a would-be assassin at a Butler campaign rally in July, just two days before the Republican Party convention to nominate him for president.
Monper’s arrest came during the same week that Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump as he golfed in September, was charged with additional Florida state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.
“Attempting to take the life of a former president and a leading presidential candidate isn’t just an attack on one man, this was a political attack against our republican form of government and our shared American values,” Attorney General James Uthmeier said.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
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