'Rip your head off!' Montana man charged with threatening to kill Democratic senator

A man from Kalispell has been arrested and charged with sending graphic death threats to Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), reported the Daily Montanan on Friday.

"Kevin Patrick Smith, 45, pleaded not guilty to an indictment filed on Feb. 22 charging him with two counts of threats to injure and murder a United States senator, the news release said," said the report. "If convicted of the most serious crime, Smith faces 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release."

According to prosecutors, Smith left a series of threatening voice mail messages for Tester, and continued after FBI agents contacted him and warned him to stop.

“There is nothing I want more than to have you stand toe to toe with me. You stand toe to toe with me. I rip your head off. You die. You stand in a situation where it is physical between you and me. You die," Smith allegedly said in one message. “I will never stop. … And I would love to destroy you and rip your (obscenity) head from your shoulders. That is no problem. Call that a threat. Send the FBI. I would love to (obscenity) kill you. I would love to see your FBI at my door. I would love to see something in the news.”

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Smith faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Threats to assassinate and assault members of Congress have become relatively commonplace. Last November, a mentally ill QAnon supporter was charged with threatening to kill Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), as well as FBI Director Christopher Wray. The next month, a Texas man who ran a fringe campaign against Republican Rep. Randy Weber was arrested for threatening to kill him. And numerous people have threatened Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and his family.