Man vowed to kill Trump and 'wear his face as a mask,' insisted it was 'not a joke': DOJ

A Washington man has been indicted after threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump multiple times. In August and September 2025, 20-year-old Phillip Wharton allegedly posted threats against the president on social media.

On August 19, 2025, the United States Capitol Police (USCP) noticed that an X account with the username @saydieonline had made a post stating, “What the guy in the White House sees after I kill the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND WEAR HIS FACE AS A MASK.”

The USCP immediately contacted the United States Secret Service (USSS), which began investigating the user. The USSS then found multiple threatening posts on the account. According to a federal complaint, one post read, “Real punks can agree with me on this one. Elon Musk and Trump are easy targets ??”

Another assassination threat read, “WHEN I TWEET THAT ILL ASSASSINATE THE US PRESIDENT THEY DELETE IT.” The USSS analysed the user’s other social media accounts and public records to determine that Wharton was behind the posts.

Instead of arresting him right away, the Secret Service agents decided to warn him about the seriousness of the matter. They contacted his father and later arranged a meeting with Wharton at a local bar in Everett on September 8.

When the agents confronted him about the threats, he initially seemed confused, but later admitted that he had made those posts. The agents warned him that he would be prosecuted if he did not stop making social media threats against the president.

Wharton told the agents that he was angry with Trump over his connection with convicted s– offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also believed that Trump was involved in the trafficking of two minors, which infuriated him. At the time, Wharton stated that he understood the agents’ point and agreed to stop making threatening social media posts.

However, just over two weeks later, on September 23, 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that Wharton had once again threatened to kill Trump. This time, he went on his Instagram profile, @saydieonline, and allegedly wrote, “My name is Sadie Online. I am going to kill the president tomorrow. This is not a joke, but a confession admissible in a court of law.”Investigators also noticed other questionable images on his account, including one picture of him holding a weapon-like object.

A criminal complaint was eventually filed against Wharton, and he was arrested on February 10, 2026. On February 25, a jury in the Western District of Washington indicted him on two counts of threatening a federal official, i.e., the President. Fine Wharton is currently out on bond with pretrial conditions, including mandated court appearances, travel restrictions, no law violations, undergoing a mental health evaluation, and surrendering his passport. He is going to be arraigned on March 5. If found guilty, Wharton will face a fine of $250,000 fine and/or up to 10 years in prison.