A West Virginia man has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump and federal agents, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday.
Cody Lee Smith, 20, of Clarksburg, admitted to making threats against the president and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
In one threatening post, Smith tagged the Instagram accounts of Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., apparently to increase the likelihood that they would see the message.
According to prosecutors, Smith also sent a direct Instagram message to Trump Jr. with an explicit message explaining how he would kill his father.
Court documents state that in January, Smith posted the tip line phone number for ICE, encouraging others to call the number and say “the nastiest and most vile things you can.”
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department reported that Smith had posted the threats on social media.
Along with local law enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Secret Service, the FBI, and the West Virginia State Police investigated the case.
Smith has been indicted on two counts of threats to murder the president, one count of influencing and retaliating against federal officials by threat of murder, and one count of influencing a federal official by threat of murder.
It’s unclear if he has retained legal representation.
Smith faces up to five years for the presidential threat charge and up to 10 years in federal prison for the threats against ICE agents.
DHS said that the case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that leverages the full resources of the Justice Department to dismantle cartels and transnational criminal organizations, protect communities from violent criminals, and combat illegal immigration.
To date, there have been three widely recognized assassination attempts against Trump that happened during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024, while the president was golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024, and during the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., in April 2026.
