Montana man who threatened to kill Sen. Jon Tester sentenced to prison

A Montana man who threatened to kill Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) earlier this year was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, the Department of Justice announced.

The big picture: The Tester case is part of a wider trend of surging threats against lawmakers in recent years. U.S. Capitol Police investigations of threats against U.S. lawmakers spiked 144% between 2017 and 2021.

• USCP Chief Thomas Manger testified at a hearing in December that the force recorded more than 9,000 threats against members of Congress last year.
• In October, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was violently attacked with a hammer, fracturing his skull.

Driving the news: Kevin Patrick Smith, 46, made "numerous threatening phone calls" to Tester's office on Jan. 30 and left menacing voicemails, according to a DOJ press release.

• Smith left about 60 messages for Tester, which included multiple threats of murder, per the Thursday press release. In one of the voicemails, Smith told Tester he wanted to "rip [his] head off."
• Smith acknowledged to authorities that he made the threats "because he was upset with Tester's political decisions," the release said.
• The calls began in late 2022, per AP.

State of play: Smith was contacted by the FBI in early February and officials warned him to stop contacting the senator. He was arrested later that month, NBC News reported.

• Smith pleaded guilty in April to threatening to murder a U.S. senator. Following his prison sentence, Smith will be under supervised release for three years, according to the DOJ.
• Presiding U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen dismissed a second count against Smith as part of a plea deal, AP reported.

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