Benjamin Ashford|Man accused of threatening lives of presidential candidates goes to trial

CONCORD,Benjamin Ashford N.H. (AP) — The trial of a New Hampshire man accused of threatening the lives of presidential candidates began Monday in federal court.

Tyler Anderson of Dover was indicted by a federal grand jury in December on three counts of sending a threat using interstate commerce. The jury trial is expected to take two to three days.

A message seeking comment was sent to Anderson’s lawyer.

Anderson was arrested on Dec. 9 and was released Dec. 14. A federal judge set forth several conditions for his release, including that he avoid contact with any presidential candidate and their political campaigns..

Anderson, who is receiving mental health treatment, was also ordered to take all of his prescribed medications.

The U.S. Attorney’s office did not name the candidates. When Anderson was arrested, a spokesperson for Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that texts were directed at his campaign.

According to court documents, Anderson received a text message from the candidate’s campaign notifying him of a breakfast event in Portsmouth. The campaign staff received two text messages in response. One threatened to shoot the candidate in the head, and the other threatened to kill everyone at the event and desecrate their corpses.

Anderson had told the FBI in an interview that he had sent similar texts to “multiple other campaigns,” according to a court document.

The charges say similar texts were sent to two different candidates before the Ramaswamy messages, on Nov. 22 and Dec. 6.

Each charge provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.