A Democratic target of Roger Stone’s alleged death threats against lawmakers said he first learned of the episode from media reports.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said he has been in discussions with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI, both of which he says are conducting investigations into the alleged threats.
But before talking with those agencies, Nadler said he read news of Stone’s alleged remarks from a report from Mediaite, an online news site.
“It was a surprise to me. I just found out a few days ago … I saw it on Mediate,” Nadler said Wednesday evening.
Posted last Friday, the Mediaite audio features remarks allegedly made by Stone, a longtime Republican political operative and close ally of former President Trump, in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election. In the audio, Stone allegedly tells another man, former NYPD officer Sal Greco, that either Nadler or Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) “has to die.”
“It’s time to do it,” Stone allegedly told Greco, according to the audio. “Then we’ll see how brave the rest of them are. It’s time to do it. It’s either Swalwell or Nadler has to die before the election. They need to get the message. Let’s go find Swalwell and get this over with. I’m just not putting up with this shit anymore.”
Nadler said both the Capitol Police and FBI are conducting investigations — a detail first reported by Mediaite on Tuesday.
“We’ve talked to the Capitol Police and the FBI,” Nadler said. He offered no details.
A spokesperson for the Capitol Police declined to verify the investigation, citing “safety reasons.” The FBI has also declined to comment.
Neither Stone nor his attorney responded Wednesday to requests for comment. But Stone has denied the allegations, telling Mediaite that the audio must be “[artificial intelligence] manipulation.”
Greco is also pushing back, taking to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to characterize the Mediaite report as “nothing more than clickbait political fodder.”
Nadler and Swalwell are both high-profile House Democrats, and both of them served as managers of one of Trump’s two impeachments. That distinction made them the target of right-wing attacks, both in conservative media and beyond.
“I’ve talked to Swalwell about it, and this is not OK. He’s living under threat of violent attack all the time,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said. “He’s a favorite punching bag on Fox News.”
Swalwell issued a statement Wednesday saying Stone “put a hit out on me” because “I’m one of Trump’s loudest critics.” As Trump is once again the leading GOP contender for the presidential nomination this cycle, Swalwell is cautioning his colleagues to take such threats seriously.
“The Roger Stone assassination plot recording may seem like the ravings of a wannabe gangster. It’s not,” Swalwell said. “This is what Trump and his real-life thugs do: They try to intimidate opponents and will always choose violence over voting.”
Ella Lee contributed reporting.