A McLean man has pleaded guilty in federal court to sending death threats, including to Trump-Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell.
On Dec. 23, 2025, Scott Bolger, 33, sent a message to a public official via Google Voice, which allows a user to send a text while obfuscating their phone number, the Justice Department said.
The message read “step on U Street and get a bullet put between your eyes, loyalist pig skin p——,” according to an affidavit filed in support of Bolger’s arrest.
When federal investigators first went to Bolger’s residence, he gave them the fake name “Brian Black,” claiming not to know the name Scott Bolger. He later admitted to his identity when federal investigators returned with Fairfax County Police Department officers after confirming he lived at the residence, according to the affidavit.
Neither the Justice Department release nor the affidavit directly named Mr. Grenell as the recipient of the Dec. 23 threat, but Mr. Grenell said on X on Dec. 30 that “I am grateful to Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Lindsey Halligan for finding this deranged individual and locking him up. His name is Scott Bolger.”
The Justice Department also confirmed to Fox News that Mr. Grenell was the target of Bolger’s threatening message.
Mr. Grenell reposted a message from the Trump-Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations that said, “the Left has targeted the Trump Kennedy Center with boycotts and violence so we’re pleased to see this individual recognized as a legitimate threat.”
In addition to the threat against Mr. Grenell, the Justice Department said Bolger also made threats against another victim who is not a public official. The Justice Department did not name the second victim.
Starting in October 2022 and through at least November 2025, Bolger used accounts on X and Proton Mail to threaten and harass the victim, including sending them indecent images of themselves and making a social media profile featuring such images.
Bolger was not charged for the messages to the second individual, according to FFXNow.
Bolger will remain in custody until he is sentenced for transmitting threats in interstate commerce on May 20. He will receive up to five years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
