Secret Service arrested a Florida man and charged him with posting online threats to kill Donald Trump, including a challenge to fight the president naked to the death.
Kendal Aaron Todd, 42, uploaded a video to his social media page that included confusing rants about the president and concerning behavior that caused authorities to intervene.
‘Donald Trump has personally made business decisions which have hurt so many different reincarnated Jesuses,’ Todd said in the 80-second video which was filled with expletives.
‘Because of Donald Trump, every single person in the world is cursed,’ he noted. ‘Donald Trump is the Antichrist.’
‘Fight me naked to the death!’ he added. ‘I’m going to cut you up with a chainsaw and put you in acid.’
The video has since been taken down.
Kendal Aaron Todd, 42, was arrested after posting threats online against Trump
Florida officials said Todd’s behavior was a red flag.
‘He just kept escalating his behavior,’ St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro told Florida television station WPBF. ‘He got the attention obviously of the United States Secret Service, and that got our attention.’
Del Toro said his deputies had been watching Todd for more than a week as they were concerned for his mental health.
They had tried to speak to him at home but he was combative, refused to open the door, and threatened violence, Del Toro said.
‘No matter what political party you’re on, violence and political arena is never the right thing,’ the sheriff noted.
‘And we’ve had attempts on our president’s life before, and we’re not taking any chances, and so we’re going to investigate those. The full weight of the sheriff’s office was going to investigate that.’
So a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team, working with the U.S. Secret Service, arrested him.
Todd is charged with Written Threat to Kill or Do Bodily Harm and is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail.
His bond is set at $500,000.
Donald Trump has had two assassination attempts against him
Trump has had two assassination attempts against him.
One was on July 13, 2024, when he was shot and wounded by an assassin’s rifle bullet that clipped his ear during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The second was on September 15, 2024, when Trump was rushed off his Palm Beach golf course after the Secret Service spotted a man hiding in nearby shrubbery and aiming a rifle.
Court records show that, on March 11 ,the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office filed a risk protection order petition and sought permission from a judge to remove any weapons from Todd’s possession.
The record shows Todd had been involved in a ‘recent act or threat of violence against themselves or others,’ and ‘may be seriously mentally ill or may have recurring mental health issues.’
Deputies also noted that a relative of Todd’s reported he ‘had ‘suicide by cop ideations’ and had been treated under Florida’s Baker Act nine months earlier in December 2023.
The Florida Mental Health Act, known as the Baker Act, allows people with mental illness to be held, voluntarily or involuntarily, in a mental health facility for up to 72 hours if the person is deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Under Florida’s Red Flag Law, which was enacted in March 2018 after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, law enforcement can ask a judge to temporarily seize firearms from people who show warning signs of violence — as the Parkland shooter had.
The judge on March 11 allowed the move against Todd. A hearing was scheduled for March 24 on the matter.
Ann Cunningham, who was Todd’s neighbor for years, told WPTV that he acted like a vampire.
‘He acts like a vampire,’ she said. ‘Because he travels at night, you don’t see him during the day.’
But she also expressed shock to hear what Todd was arrested for.
‘A lot of people dislike Trump, but you know, you have to keep that to yourself,’ Cunningham said. ‘You don’t go threaten people’s lives.’