FOX 24 US
National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, the Trump White House’s memo directing federal law enforcement to consider progressive beliefs as indicators of domestic terrorism, has done a lot of things. It’s brought a broad conspiracy case against nonviolent protestors in Minneapolis, netted half-century sentences on terrorism charges for a Texas anti-ICE protest that turned violent, and sparked what one former counterterrorism prosecutor described to TPM as a COINTELPRO-like law enforcement war on opposition protestors.
It’s also causing trouble for those extremely aggressive and extremely online people who might be inclined to make extremely inadvisable social media posts.
Recent criminal cases brought by Joint Task Force Vanguard — the DOJ’s effort to implement the White House directive — and recent statements from federal law enforcement officials point to trollish, threatening internet posting as a budding priority for the Trump administration.
These prosecutions are mostly proceeding as 875 cases — cases focused on interstate threats. It’s enough to make Chris Raia, the FBI co-Deputy Director who replaced the work-shy Dan Bongino, marvel at the newfound ease of persuading the DOJ to prosecute such cases.
“Good luck trying to get an 875 charge from a U.S. attorney, you know, five or 10 years ago,” Raia said in a video released by the FBI last week. “We’re really getting a lot of support from our partners in the DOJ, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and going after these folks.”
In one case this month, federal prosecutors acting as part of Joint Task Force Vanguard brought charges against Donald Franklin Swope of Maryland. Swope had tagged President Trump, several law enforcement agencies, and media outlets in the following Facebook post, prosecutors said:
“I will behead you Donald J. Trump and no longer will MY people bare your mark!!”
Swope faces one charge of threatening the president and another of attempting to intimidate a public official.
Another case was brought against Alexander Jakeway of Indianapolis in November 2025. Per a criminal complaint, Jakeway, tweeting from an account with the display name “wicked ass douchebag,” wrote: “Shut the fuck up geek go shoot an ice agent dead and holler at me, I’m busy” and “We need to actually kill these fucking goons I think I really don’t have experience with this and don’t care about speaking publicly either.”
Jakeway pleaded guilty to one count of interstate threats and was sentenced this week to one year probation. Vanguard took credit for the prosecution in a DOJ press release.
A DOJ spokesperson responded to questions from TPM about why these cases have become a priority with a statement saying that “political violence is a scourge on our democracy, and it is increasingly organized, radical, and dangerous. Ignoring this is not an option.”
“Joint Task Force Vanguard is tasked with enforcing a comprehensive national strategy through investigating, prosecuting, and disrupting entities and individuals engaged in acts of political violence and intimidation designed to suppress lawful political activity or obstruct the rule of law,” the statement reads.
All this may seem like a comedown from the broad ambitions of NSPM-7. Issued in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination one year ago, the directive ordered federal law enforcement to prioritize “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity” and “extremism on migration, race, and gender” as warning signs, and motivating beliefs of, domestic terrorism. Stephen Miller, the president’s Homeland Security adviser responsible for ensuring that executive orders get implemented, described it as an effort to “dismantle left-wing terrorism.”
Raia said in the video released by the FBI last week that NSPM-7 has probably “been the thing I’ve worked on the most” as deputy director. He said the administration had a joint mission center, bringing in employees from across federal law enforcement: Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury Department, and others, “all sitting in the same space.”
Much of this work does, however, appear to be centered on monitoring internet threats, Raia said.
“It seems like every day I’m dealing with some sort of 875 charge or some sort of threat to a public official, some sort of threat to the government,” he remarked.
That’s also meant assessing whether a given post is worth a criminal case, or if the local Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) should be called in to go talk to the person who made the post online. His colleagues were using the JTTF as “the enforcement arm of that to go out and action those leads and — whether it’s bring it to some type of disruption, whether it’s a simple knock on the door, ‘hey, knock this off,’” Raia said.
Knocking on the door hasn’t always led to people who allegedly post violent threats to public officials avoiding prosecution.
James Michael Breen Jr. was charged with interstate threats and threats against the president this week in federal court in Albany. Breen, 75, allegedly used his iPhone 12 Mini to post on X that the world would be a “better place” if Trump and what the FBI described as a “supporter” were assassinated. In another post that agents cited in a criminal complaint, Breen allegedly wrote, “somebody needs to kill him,” referencing the president.
Agents executed a search warrant at Breen’s home on September 7, the day he was charged. There, he confirmed that he made the posts, the complaint said, but denied that he really meant any harm to Trump and others.
