Missouri man who threatened to kill Rep. Emanuel Cleaver sentenced to prison Tuesday
A Marionville man was sentenced to prison without parole on Tuesday after threatening to assault and kill two congressmen.
Kenneth R. Hubert, 63, received two years and six months in federal prison without parole by U.S District Judge M. Douglas Harpool.
In June, Hubert pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to injure federal officials. He admitted “intent to impede, intimidate, and interfere” with the official duties of U.S. House Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee.
Hubert left a voicemail at Cleaver’s office on Jan. 7, 2021, in which he used a racial slur directed at Cleaver and suggested that a noose be put around his neck.
“How about a noose around his neck? He’s a dumb motherf--ker. He’s stupid as a idiot,” Hubert said, according to a Department of Justice release.
An employee of the office reported the call to police.
Hubert also admitted to threatening Rep. Steve Cohen on May 6, 2019. In another phone call to staff, he said he “has a noose with the Congressman’s name on it,” and planned to “put a noose around his neck and drag him behind his pickup truck.”
In the last seven years, Hubert has made a number of racist threats against people of color and minority groups, according to a report by the Justice Department.
U.S Secret Service previously investigated Hubert for saying President Barack Obama “needed to be hung from a light post,” according to prosecutors of his case.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in St. Louis received calls in 2016 from Hubert asking the civil right and advocacy group to “pack up” their tents and “go back to your f---- Arab country, that’s if you want to stay alive.”
The day of the fatal U.S Capitol riots on Jan. 6, left two voicemails for the Missouri Democratic party.
“You see the s--- happening at the Capitol? It’s coming your way next,” he allegedly said over the phone.
The FBI reported Hubert has “described himself as a ‘right wing nut job’”
He left the racist voicemail for Rep. Cleaver the next day.
Hubert referenced a prayer that Rep. Cleaver made on the first day of Congress in his voicemail.
Cleaver ended the prayer with “’Amen and ‘A-woman,’” which he said intended to recognize the historic number of women elected to Congress. The message was controversial, with many arguing online the representative misunderstood the meaning of the word “Amen.”
In January, Cleaver received so many abusive calls as a result of the controversy that his church, St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, had to temporarily shut down its phone line.
