A San Diego man was arrested last week and is expected to face a federal criminal charge in Florida for allegedly mailing a threatening letter to Benny Johnson, a conservative social media influencer with close connections to the White House, according to the Department of Justice and a federal search warrant affidavit.
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George Russell Isbell Jr., 69, allegedly mailed the letter last month to Johnson’s home in Tampa, Fla. The letter, which was sent in the days following the Sept. 10 slaying of Charlie Kirk, another conservative media personality and friend of Johnson’s, alluded to various violent and deadly acts its author would “love to see,” though the letter’s author did not threaten to personally carry out those acts.
“Don’t worry-won’t be me-I’m not giving up my freedoms for worm (expletive) like you,” the author wrote.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called Isbell a “coward hiding behind a keyboard” in a statement and said his arrest “will serve as a reminder to many — do not do this, we will find you and bring you to justice.”
In a search warrant affidavit for Isbell’s San Diego home, an FBI agent wrote that a federal criminal complaint was filed against him on Oct. 3 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest that same day.
After FBI agents spent two days surveilling Isbell at his home, a San Diego police officer arrested him on the warrant during an Oct. 7 traffic stop. He allegedly admitted in a post-arrest interview with the FBI that he mailed the letter to Johnson. He also allegedly gave investigators permission to enter his home and seize a .357 Magnum handgun that he said he kept for protection, but which he said did not have bullets.
Isbell is expected to be charged with one count of mailing threatening communications, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. As of Monday, the Florida case referenced in the warrant remained sealed.
According to that same search warrant, the FBI is also investigating Isbell for potentially threatening emails he allegedly sent in February 2021 to Republican state lawmakers in Louisiana after they censured one of their state’s Republican senators for voting to convict President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial.
According to the warrant, Louisiana State Police launched an investigation in 2021 that identified Isbell as the sender of the email. In a footnote of the warrant, the FBI agent wrote that investigators are now working to determine if Isbell “sent any other threatening email communications that may qualify as a ‘true threat’” under federal law.