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Threatening President Donald Trump—or any U.S. president—on social media is no joke. Now, three black college students in Alabama are learning that social media is not a consequence-free zone after allegedly making threatening comments about Trump. The arrests of Amare Jemal Woods, Cameron Lamark Lewis and Kayla Leaann Smith serve as a reminder that words posted online can carry serious real-world consequences.
For black Americans, who have long raised concerns about unequal treatment within the criminal justice system, encounters with federal law enforcement can carry an added layer of scrutiny. But when it comes to threats against the president, federal law is clear. Under 18 U.S.C. § 871, making a threat to harm or kill a sitting, former, or incoming president can result in a felony conviction and up to five years in prison. The law applies regardless of a person’s race or background, and what may feel like an offhand comment online can have serious legal consequences.
They were arrested Friday (Oct. 2), just hours before Trump arrived on the Mobile campus for a campaign rally. The FBI says the three cases are separate and that investigators discovered the posts while conducting social-media intelligence work ahead of the president’s visit.
According to federal affidavits and reporting by FOX10, Woods, 18, is an aerospace engineering freshman and a recent Mobile-area high school graduate. Investigators say he responded to a TikTok post about Trump’s visit by writing, “he gotta die bro.”
Lewis, a biology major who also works as a pharmacy technician and resident assistant, allegedly made two posts on X referencing the assassination of conservative Charlie Kirk and the fatal shooting of rapper BloodHound Q50, both of which we’ve previously reported on. One post referenced the University of Utah Valley campus where Kirk was killed.
“Nigga gon remember the University of South Alabama the same way they remember Utah Valley University,” Lewis allegedly wrote, according to court documents obtained by WSBT.
Smith, an elementary-education major, allegedly responded to a TikTok about Trump coming to campus by writing, “We only got one chance let’s take it,” and posting an image of someone appearing to hold a firearm.
Those allegations are just that, but while none of the students have been convicted, federal law is explicit in the difference between criticizing a president as protected free speech and threatening to kill one.
The students’ attorneys are challenging whether the posts meet the legal definition of a threat, however. Woods’ attorney, Jason Darley, has argued that his client’s comment may have been an ill-advised expression rather than an actual threat, saying there is a “genuine question” about whether it was a comment or a threat.
“And unfortunately, these young kids, he’s 18 years old, he just turned 18 in June, they get wrapped up in all this social media stuff and the next thing he knows, the FBI is literally calling,” Darley told AL.com
Still, the case offers a sobering lesson, particularly for young people who have grown up communicating in public online spaces. Given Trump’s history of assassination attempts and other examples of political violence across the nation, threats against any political figure– especially the head of state– carry consequences that extend well beyond social media. And the three students aren’t the first to learn that lesson.
In September, a New York man, Jeffrey Scott Hamm, Jr., pleaded guilty in federal court to making threats to kill Trump, WRGB reported. Alex Justin Miller in Ohio was also charged with threatening the president and GOP leaders, according to the Justice Department.
“The American public needs to know online threats of violence are illegal and will not be tolerated,” Craig Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albany Field Office, later said. “Online platforms provide a space for sharing information and ideas, but when those ideas cross over into threats of violence, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) will find you and hold you accountable.”
All three Alabama students were released from federal custody under strict conditions, including bans on social media and weapons and restrictions on contacting one another. Their cases now head to a federal grand jury.
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Original Article: Threatening a President is a Serious Crime, Three Black Students Found out the Hard way – The Root