A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of threatening to kill former President Obama and California Rep. Maxine Waters (D), facing up to 20 years in prison.
After a three-day trial, a jury convicted Stephen Taubert of threatening to assault a federal official, making threats against a former president and using interstate commerce to make a threat.
{mosads}The three charges stem from a string of disturbing phone calls Taubert made to congressional offices in 2017 and 2018.
Taubert made a phone call to then-Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s (D) office in 2017, during which he threatened to “hang” Obama. The following year, he also called Waters’s office threatening to kill the lawmaker and everyone working on her staff.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release that Taubert used “vile racial slurs” toward the former president and Waters in both calls.
“The evidence at trial included a recorded interview of Taubert, during which he made racist statements and an admission that he called Congresswoman Waters’ office to ‘terrorize’ her in retaliation for public statements she had made,” the office said.
Taubert’s sentencing is scheduled to take place on July 24.
He faces up to 10 years in prison on the retaliation count and up to five years on each of the other two counts, the office said.