FILE - Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom before the start of closing arguments in his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York. Records show over the past two years, Axos Bank and its largest individual shareholder Don Hankey, have extended more than $500 million in financing that has benefited Trump. Ethics experts say they could also grant Hankey and Axos Bank outsize sway in a future Trump administration. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool, File)
Authorities arrested a former Christian reality show host this week in Los Angeles on federal charges of making threats to kill President Donald Trump, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release.
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Benjamin Azariah Southworth, 40, was charged with one count of threats against Trump, one count of cyberstalking and one count of harassing telephone calls in interstate communications, the release said. He was also accused of harassing Trump’s former personal lawyer and that lawyer’s family.
The president has faced a series of high-profile death threats and assasination attempts during the last few years, including an attack at a Pennsylvania rally in 2024 and a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April.
“As threats against President Trump’s life escalate, the Department of Justice will respond with the full force of the law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement this week. “We will hold perpetrators of violent threats accountable, and anyone who makes these threats online will not be allowed to hide behind their screens.”
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Southworth is accused of expressing hate toward Trump and his supporters through social media channels between January 2026 to May 2026, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
He is accused of sharing the address of Trump’s personal lawyer, as well as photos of their house. Southworth wrote “No peace for traitors” on the post, the release said. He is also accused of leaving “abusive messages” online and over voicemail to the lawyer’s son, as well as making a series of “harassing telephone calls” to the lawyer’s wife from January to May 2026.
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He is accused of posting a video on April 7 to Instagram, where he said, “This government is illegitimate and out of control. It’s time for course correction. Kill Donald Trump.”
Southworth came out as gay in 2008 while hosting “The Remix,” a youth show that spotlighted Christian singers. He also co-hosted the “Yass, Jesus!” podcast from 2020 to 2024, which is described on streaming services as an “interfaith and sexuality affirming comedy podcast.”
He sells sticker sheets on his website of a sad hamster meme with the words “Kill Trump.”
If convicted, Southworth faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the threats charge, five years for the cyberstalking charge and two years for the harassment charge.
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