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Breaking: Man held for Obama assassination threat

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Bethany Beightol
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« on: August 07, 2008, 03:34:32 pm »

August 7, 2008
Breaking: Man held for Obama assassination threat
Posted: 04:18 PM ET

(CNN) — A man is being held in Florida on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, according to court documents.

An affidavit filed by a Secret Service agent in U.S. District Court claims that Raymond Hunter Geisel, of Marathon, Florida, threatened to "kill, kidnap and cause bodily harm upon a major candidate for president of the United States, that is, Senator Barack Obama."

The affidavit says Geisel made the threats while attending a bail bondsman training class in Miami.

During an interview with the Secret Service, Geisel denied threatening Obama, but told agents that "if he wanted to kill Senator Obama he would simply shoot him with a sniper rifle."

He later said that comment was a joke, the agent said in the document.

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Kristina
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« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2008, 11:08:16 am »

New Details: Man held for alleged Obama assassination threat
Posted: 06:18 AM ET

From CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti



 
Raymond Hunter Geisel is being held on charges that he threatened to assassinate Sen. Barack Obama.
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — A man was being held in Florida on Thursday on charges he told classmates at a training seminar that he would kill Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama if he is elected, according to a law enforcement official and court documents.

The threats came just days before Obama was scheduled to visit Florida and were made by a person discovered to have ammunition, a handgun and other weapons, authorities said.

An affidavit filed by a Secret Service agent in U.S. District Court claims that Raymond Hunter Geisel, of Marathon, Florida, threatened to "kill, kidnap and cause bodily harm upon a major candidate for president of the United States, that is, Senator Barack Obama."

A search of Geisel's vehicle and a hotel room in Miami, where Geisel was attending a bail bondsman training class, found a 9-mm handgun, ammunition that included armor-piercing and rifle bullets, police-style emergency lights, body armor, a machete and two canisters of tear gas, among other military-style items, according to the document.

Agents say that classmates of Geisel reported that, between July 25-28, Geisel used a racial slur toward Obama and said "if he gets elected, I'll assassinate him myself."

A classmate said that, one day after class, she also heard Geisel say "that he hated George W. Bush and that he wanted to put a bullet in the president's head."

Obama made several campaign stops in Florida on Friday, a day before federal agents arrested Geisel at a Holiday Inn Express in Miami.

During an interview with the Secret Service, Geisel said he couldn't remember whether he threatened Obama and the president, but told agents that "if he wanted to kill Senator Obama he would simply shoot him with a sniper rifle."

He later said that comment was a joke, the agent said in the document.

Geisel also said he has post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects his memory, and had once checked himself into a psychiatric institution for treatment.

The affidavit, signed by Special Agent Charles R. Adie, said Geisel "generally provided no excuse" for why he had the weapons and other items — claiming that he collects some of them, that the handgun was for target practice during the bail bondsman course and that he uses the machete and a hatchet for cutting through brush in Maine, where he lived most of his life before moving to Florida in January.

On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen T. Brown ordered that Geisel be held in jail until his trial, calling him a danger to the community and a risk to run away before his date in court.

The judge noted that Geisel lives on a sailboat, is unemployed and has no strong ties to the Florida area.

Geisel is scheduled to appear in court on August 18. If he has been officially indicted by then, he would enter a plea. If not, it would merely be a preliminary hearing on the charges.

 Click here to read the Secret Service affidavit

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Caitlin Cone-Hoskins
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« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2008, 01:28:41 pm »

Girlfriend: Fla. man didn't want to hurt Obama
By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer
11 minutes ago

 


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves to people as he goes into a building for meetings in Chicago Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

MIAMI - Two people closest to a man charged with threatening to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Friday he has no violent tendencies and would never have seriously threatened violence against anyone.

 
In fact, they say, Raymond Hunter Geisel came to Florida from Maine earlier this year in hopes that taking a bail bondsman training course would put him on a pathway to a law enforcement career or some other vocation in which he could help people.

"He'd never hurt a person. It would be completely against his character," said Geisel's girlfriend, 35-year-old Susanne Kynast, in a telephone interview from the sailboat home they share in the Florida Keys. "He is so much for life. It's absolutely horrifying."

A mentor and Catholic Charities caseworker who took Geisel into his home in Hampden, Maine, four years ago made similar comments, noting that Geisel was just emerging from an severely abusive home environment to make his way in the world.

"He's basically a 22-year-old who's a teenager. He says things that are inappropriate," Richard Peer, 58, said in a separate telephone interview. "In my heart, I know he didn't mean it. He would be more likely to save a life than do to the other."

Geisel faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted of threatening Obama. The Secret Service arrested him last Saturday after another student in the bail bondsman training course told agents she heard him refer to Obama with a racial slur and then say, "If he gets elected, I'll assassinate him myself."

Another student told agents Geisel also said that he "hated George W. Bush and that he wanted to put a bullet in the president's head," according to court documents. But Geisel has not been charged with threatening the president.

Arraignment on the Obama threat charge is set for Aug. 18. Geisel denied in writing to the Secret Service that he threatened either Obama or Bush, and no evidence has emerged that he took any steps to carry out an assassination.

A search of Geisel's hotel room and 1998 Ford Explorer in Miami turned up a loaded 9mm handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, body armor, knives, a machete and other military-style gear. The Explorer was wired with flashing emergency lights.

Kynast, a native of Germany who has lived in the U.S. for 16 years, said the couple hauled her boat to the Keys town of Marathon in January and Geisel later found out about the bail bondsman course. Kynast said he saw it as an entry into law enforcement.

"He always wanted to be a police officer to help people. He wanted to help people who were victims of abuse," Kynast said.

Peer and Kynast said Geisel's difficult upbringing made it hard for him to socialize with people and build trusting relationships. Kynast suggested that he may have mistook Obama's name for that of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in making his alleged threat.

"Raymond is so nonpolitical, he didn't even realize it. It all comes down to one letter in a name. It would have been a natural mistake for him to have made," she said.
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