Man admits threatening Missouri, Tennessee congressmen

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri man has admitted that he threatened U.S. Reps. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri and Steve Cohen of Tennessee because he was upset by comments they made.

Kenneth R. Hubert, 63, of Marionville, Missouri, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of threatening to assault a U.S. official, according to court documents.

Hubert acknowledged that he left a voicemail at Cleaver's office in Independence, Missouri, on Jan. 7. After calling Cleaver, who is Black, a racial slur, he said, “How about a noose around his neck?,” according to the documents.

Hubert told FBI agents who contacted him on Jan. 19 that he was upset over a statement Cleaver made in the U.S. House of Representatives, The Kansas City Star reported.

Cleaver has said previously that he didn't know Hubert and was unaware of the call until Cohen told him about the investigation.

Hubert also admitted that on May 6, 2019 he called Cohen's office in Washington D.C. and told a staff member that “he has a noose with the Congressman’s name on it” and planned to “put a noose around his neck and drag him behind his pickup truck.”

He told the FBI he he was offended by a comment Cohen made about then-President Donald Trump.

At a detention hearing in March, Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark said Hubert has made similar threats to other politicians, a federal judge and political organizations including the Council of American-Islamic Relations in St. Louis, dating back to 2014,

Hubert reportedly told FBI agents he was also previously investigated by the U.S. Secret Service for saying President Barack Obama “needed to be hanged from a light post.”