Originally Posted by
jkhuggins
I'm certainly not a legal scholar. But there are similar precedents in other areas of the law.
I'm sure POTUS rarely fears the threats that all sorts of crackpots make against him. Yet threatening POTUS is a Class D felony,
according to Wikipedia.
Of course, that's a terribly unusual situation, and may not be applicable here.
It is not that unusual. Even the phone bank next to the White House is given a transfer/contact button for the Secret Service duty desk and it gets used. Also many a high school has had a student who has been "visited" for "threats" against the POTUS or relative of such.
Most "threats" against the POTUS do not involve prosecution for anything. More often such involves a "visit" from investigators and then warnings about staying away from events when the POTUS comes to the vicinity of such "threat"-maker. Speaking of "threats" made domestically.
Prosecution is rare relative to the frequency of "threats" tracked, investigated and notified. But it is indeed, as you refer, something that can and does take place.