Secret Service Arrests Man For Alleged Threat To 'Blow Up' White House

A Kansas man was taken in by the Secret Service for an alleged threat made against the president of the United States. Brandon Koss of Wichita, Kansas called the White House and made a credible enough threat that federal authorities felt the need to detain him, the Wichita Eagle reported.

Koss, who is 31 years old according to the Kansas City Star, made a phone call to the White House early on the morning of Jan. 26. When an operator answered the phone, Koss had one thing to say: “I’m going to blow up the White House.”

The White House operator passed along the threat to a Wichita Secret Service agent, who filed an affidavit obtained by the Eagle. After a call to Koss’s phone number went without an answer, the Secret Service agent traveled to Koss’s home with an address supplied by a probation officer. Koss would only speak to the agent on the phone, as he would not open the door and talk in person.

According to Koss, he called the White House to report a terroristic threat. He would not admit to making the threat he was alleged to have made. He was arrested and charged with making a threat against the president.

If convicted, Koss would face up to five years in prison with heavy fines potentially tacked onto that sentence, according to FindLaw. It can be a tricky conviction for a jury to decide, as person making the threat must be mentally competent and the threat needs to be credible. That means a joke about killing the president might be protected as free speech, but a statement that could be reasonably taken as a threat would not receive the same protection.