FAA worker in New Hampshire charged with threatening to kill Trump

A New Hampshire man working for the Federal Aviation Administration has been accused of threatening President Donald Trump via email.

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Dean DelleChiaie, 35, a mechanical engineer at the FAA in Nashua, allegedly sent an email to the White House on April 21 saying, “I, Dean DelleChiaie, am going to incapacitate/kill you – Donald John Trump – because you decided to kill children – and say it was war – when in reality – it is terrorism. God knows your actions and where you belong.”

DelleChiaie was arrested Monday and appeared before a federal judge Tuesday. He is accused of “interstate communication of a threat”.

The FAA, which has weathered periods of volatility and job cuts during Trump’s second term, first alerted the Secret Service in January that DelleChiaie had used his work computer to research ways to harm Trump, according to court documents. The searches included how to bring a gun into a federal facility, what percentage of the population wants Trump dead and the phrase “I’m going to kill Donald John Trump,” the criminal complaint states.

DelleChiaie also allegedly searched the locations of the homes of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as well as the names and ages of their children.

After performing these searches, DelleChiaie asked the FAA’s IT department to clear his search history, according to court documents. The IT department alerted the FAA to the request and the FAA suspended DelleChiaie before forwarding the information to the Secret Service, the complaint states.

A Secret Service agent and a Nashua police officer interviewed DelleChiaie at her apartment in early February, according to the agent’s affidavit. DelleChiaie allegedly admitted to carrying out the searches and also possessing three firearms. Although charging documents do not specify whether DelleChiaie possessed the firearms legally, there is no reference to them being confiscated by authorities.

DelleChiaie told officers he was remorseful, but he shared that he was angry at the Trump administration because of the election, Trump’s presidential pardons and Jeffrey Epstein’s records, the complaint states. He said he also reported being depressed and in therapy, drinking until he “blacked out” and using marijuana daily.

The Secret Service agent detailed in the complaint that he noticed several phrases written on a whiteboard on DelleChiaie’s refrigerator, including “Calm down more,” “Go to the Washington office if they don’t act” and “Say stop me, ‘I’m going to assassinate Donald John Trump – in defense of oath.’

Weeks after that visit, DelleChiaie was accused of sending his threatening Trump email directly to the White House.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrea K. Johnstone on Tuesday ordered DelleChiaie held without bail pending trial. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

DelleChiaie filed documents with the court Tuesday requesting representation from a public defender.

DelleChiaie appeared in court the same day that Cole Tomas Allen was indicted on a new charge in connection with the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where Trump was in attendance. He has not yet entered a plea in the case.

Allen had previously been charged with attempting to assassinate the president as well as two other gun-related charges. Tuesday’s indictment adds a charge of assaulting an officer or employee of the United States with a deadly weapon.

He faces the maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted only of the attempted murder charge.