Staffers for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang have contacted the FBI after receiving a series of death threats, according to a report Tuesday.
The political publication The Hill reviewed emails sent to Yang's campaign under the name "Hitman Yang" that include threatening messages about shooting members of Yang's camp while they're in New Hampshire. The emails also threatened that if the campaign didn't limit its tweets about the campaign on Twitter there would be violence in return.
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“Recently, the campaign received threats via email regarding the candidate and specific public events. Due to certain specific information contained in the emails, and out of an abundance of caution, we immediately contacted the FBI and local enforcement and have been working with them,” a Yang campaign official told the publication.
“The candidate’s safety and the safety of the public at-large is our utmost priority and we’ll continue to stay alert while following the guidance of law enforcement to take any necessary security measures. We’ve referred the matter to the FBI for investigation.”
The local police department did not immediately respond to requests about the investigation, and the FBI declined to comment to The Hill.
The reported threats came just days before Yang officially opened his campaign office in Manchester, New Hampshire. On Tuesday evening, the businessman celebrated the opening by squirting whipped cream into a supporter's mouth, against his campaign manager's best judgment. In a video posted on Twitter, Yang laughs while squirting the whipped cream in the voter's mouth as his campaign manager objects.
ABC employee Christopher Donato caught the moment on video.
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