President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for border czar keeps proving that he’s the right man for this tough job. He’s determined and, in the death threats, cautious but defiant. In a recent Fox News interview, he noted that he and other incoming Trump administration officials have been receiving death threats.
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Mr. Homan points out that, among other things, the negative press is making matters worse.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE director. I had U.S. marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
The legacy media in particular has been adamantly anti-Trump and against any of Trump’s appointees, and some of the rhetoric can’t be helping; it’s important to remember that, in the months before the election, President Trump was the target of not one but two assassination attempts, and was actually shot in one of them.
Homan lays the blame on the “hate media.”
“I’m not in the Cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
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The US Code on this issue is clear; 18 U.S. Code § 1751 – Presidential and Presidential staff assassination, kidnapping, and assault; penalties states in part:
(a) Whoever kills (1) any individual who is the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President, or, if there is no Vice President, the officer next in the order of succession to the Office of the President of the United States, the Vice President-elect, or any person who is acting as President under the Constitution and laws of the United States, or (2) any person appointed under section 105(a)(2)(A) of title 3 employed in the Executive Office of the President or appointed under section 106(a)(1)(A) of title 3 employed in the Office of the Vice President, shall be punished as provided by sections 1111 and 1112 of this title.
(b) Whoever kidnaps any individual designated in subsection (a) of this section shall be punished (1) by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or (2) by death or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, if death results to such individual.
(c) Whoever attempts to kill or kidnap any individual designated in subsection (a) of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
“Any term of years” is a little vague, but “..or for life, if death results” is pretty clear.
See Related: Trump’s One-Word Answer on Using Military for Mass Deportations: ‘TRUE!!!’
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Granted, a lot of these threats are almost certainly coming from keyboard warriors who aren’t about to attempt any real action. But if there are ten thousand such out there, that number may contain one who might actually attempt something, and while the president and his cabinet and staff picks’ security details have to get everything right every time, a would-be assassin only has to succeed once. We very nearly saw the effects of that last summer in Butler, Pennsylvania.
But Tom Homan is up to the task. While he states he is being cautious, with himself and his family, he is also determined to do this difficult job. In the Fox interview, Homan also stated that he won’t be intimidated, telling Gillian Turner “I’m not going to shut up, and I’m not going to go away.”
The right man for the job. This seems appropriate.