A 53-year-old Maryland man is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he spent months posting death threats against President Donald Trump on social media, including one message reading, “I will behead you Donald J. Trump and no longer will my people bare your mark!!” Donald Franklin Swope of Clear Spring is charged with threatening the president and with interstate communication containing a threat to harm.
According to WMAR 2 News, court documents allege Swope made repeated Facebook posts about harming Trump between May 12 and July 27. Investigators say he separately posted multiple threats aimed at the U.S. Secret Service on August 5, followed by additional threatening posts from August 6 through at least August 8. The social media post referenced in the case reportedly tagged multiple federal agencies and news outlets directly, according to the station's report.
U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Brian McDonough of the U.S. Secret Service Baltimore Field Office announced the filing of the federal criminal complaint against Swope on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia McLane has been designated to prosecute the case in Maryland district court.
A Case Tied to a Broader Federal Crackdown
The Justice Department says Swope's prosecution falls under National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, an initiative President Trump signed on September 25, 2025, to combat domestic political violence. That directive is carried out nationally through Joint Task Force Vanguard, an interagency body that leads federal, state, and local law enforcement in investigating political violence and threat cases, per the department's announcement.
Separate from the federal charges, social media posts tied to Swope's Facebook profile placed him in Clear Spring, a small municipality in Washington County, as recently as late July. A July 26 post associated with his account is said to have combined apocalyptic biblical rhetoric with death threats directed at judges, court clerks, IRS agents, and other government officials — language investigators point to as part of a broader pattern preceding the August charges.
What Swope Is Charged With — and What He Could Face
Swope is charged with making threats against the president of the United States, interstate communication containing a threat to harm, and influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member, per the WMAR report. Each threatening communications count carries a maximum of five years in prison, while the charge involving retaliation against a federal official carries up to 10 years, prosecutors say.
Those maximums track the statutory framework for these kinds of cases nationally. Threats against the president under 18 U.S.C. § 871 carry up to five years and fines as high as $250,000, while threatening or retaliating against federal officials or their families under 18 U.S.C. § 115 can bring up to a decade behind bars, according to the Legal Information Institute. Transmitting threats across state lines online under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) adds up to five more years per count.
Part of a National Surge in Threat Investigations
Swope's case adds to a growing list of similar federal prosecutions Hoodline has tracked in recent months, including an Orting man charged over a TikTok threat and a Chicago man accused of vowing to hunt a Secret Service agent. U.S. Capitol Police threat assessment records cited by news reports found federal law enforcement investigated a record 14,938 threat-related statements against public officials in 2025, a 58 percent jump from the year before.
The case remains a developing story, and the criminal complaint represents allegations that have not been proven in court. Open questions remain about whether Swope has retained legal counsel, his detention status following any initial court appearance, and whether a mental health evaluation will be sought given the religious and apocalyptic tone of the posts investigators cite.
