A federal grand jury has indicted a Los Angeles podcaster on charges that he threatened to kill President Trump and his attorney, Jay Sekulow, and engaged in a campaign of cyberstalking and harassment against them.
Benjamin Azariah Southworth, 40, was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles in a joint operation involving the FBI and local law enforcement. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrest in a post on X, calling the alleged threats “vile” and “criminal.”
Southworth previously hosted a Christian reality television program called “The Remix” before publicly coming out as gay in 2008. More recently he produced podcasts, including one titled “Yass, Jesus!”
What prosecutors allege
According to the FBI, Southworth allegedly called for the president’s assassination, posted an image depicting himself standing behind Trump with a knife, targeted Sekulow and his family, and published private information about them while making repeated harassing phone calls.
Investigators cite a January text exchange in which Southworth allegedly told an associate: “If I encounter any Trump official in-person, I’m seriously afraid I will end up in Jail,” before adding, “But if I could Kill him, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity.” In the same exchange he reportedly wrote, “I want to funnel this rage into street art. That’s my plan. But GOD I want that mother—-r and his minions dead.”
Southworth’s website, “Holy Menace,” was also reportedly selling “Kill Trump” stickers for $5.
As he was taken into custody Thursday, Southworth reportedly shouted, “Donald Trump is a pedophile. The country has fallen!”
Charges and reaction
Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said Southworth was indicted on federal charges of cyberstalking, making harassing interstate calls, and threatening to kill the president. Essayli wrote that his office has “zero tolerance for political violence and those who cross that line will be arrested and charged,” crediting the Secret Service and the FBI’s Los Angeles field office for the arrest.
An FBI account posted a warning on X: “You don’t get to hide behind a podcast, a keyboard, or ‘rhetoric’ when you start making threats of political violence.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said of Southworth that “they should also immediately seek psychiatric help to treat their severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has warped their brains and made them sick in the head.”
The indictment reflects federal authorities’ continued aggressive pursuit of alleged threats against the president and his associates, regardless of the political or religious identity of the accused. As with any indictment, the charges represent allegations that Southworth is presumed innocent of unless and until proven otherwise in court.
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