A former Coast Guard lieutenant was recently arrested for allegedly making threats to kill President Donald Trump.
Peter Stinson, a Virginia resident and retired U.S. Coast Guard officer, has been charged with making threats to assassinate former President Donald Trump, according to a newly unsealed FBI affidavit.
Stinson, who served from 1988 to 2021 and held posts as a sharpshooter and FEMA instructor, allegedly made numerous violent and graphic threats across multiple social media platforms over the past year. He is now facing a federal charge of making threats against a former U.S. president — a serious federal crime — and is scheduled to make his first court appearance this Wednesday.
The affidavit, filed Friday and reviewed by multiple news outlets, alleges that Stinson made detailed threats involving guns, poison, and knives. His posts were discovered by the FBI through monitoring of open-source platforms, including BlueSky, X (formerly Twitter), and others.
In a particularly disturbing May 9 post, Stinson reportedly stated that Trump needed to be “[L]uigied,” — a dark reference to Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2023. Authorities allege that Stinson used the nickname as a coded call for violence.
In another post, Stinson reportedly doubted his own capability to carry out such an act, saying he “lacked the necessary skills,” only to contradict himself by hinting he wasn’t “being entirely truthful.”
Federal officials also cite at least 13 references to “8647,” a number they believe ties back to a 2020 Instagram post made by former FBI Director James Comey, which some in the media interpreted as an oblique threat toward Trump. That post led to an internal review by the Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service, though no public charges were brought at the time.
Stinson openly identified as a member of Antifa, the loosely organized far-left extremist network that has been associated with political violence in cities such as Portland, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
On February 2, he allegedly wrote on X:
“Sure. This is war. Sides will be drawn. Antifa always wins in the end. Violence is inherently necessary.”
Despite Antifa being linked to multiple incidents of property destruction and direct confrontations with law enforcement, mainstream media and some political leaders have often downplayed or denied its organized nature. However, federal law enforcement continues to monitor Antifa activity as a potential domestic threat.
Stinson’s last cited threat came just days before the affidavit was filed, in a June 11 post on BlueSky. He reportedly wrote:
“When he dies, the party is going to be yuge.”
Stinson has been formally charged with making threats against a former president and could face years in federal prison if convicted. The U.S. Secret Service and DHS are continuing to investigate his digital footprint and any possible associates.
He is scheduled to appear in court for an initial hearing this week.
