A former Voice of America (VOA) employee has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly issuing repeated threats against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and her family, according to documents unsealed on Thursday.
The defendant, identified as Seth Jason of Edgewater, Maryland, has been charged with four federal crimes.
The charges include influencing a federal official by threatening a family member; anonymous telecommunications harassment; influencing a federal official by threat; and interstate communications containing a threat to injure or kidnap.
The indictment alleges that Jason, over a 15-month period from January 2024 to January 2025, made a series of threats that specifically targeted Greene and her family members.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia stated that the threats involved both verbal assaults and explicit threats to inflict physical harm, including the use of firearms.
Federal prosecutors say that from October 11, 2023, through early January 2025, Jason threatened to assault and kill the representative.
Investigators believe the threats were premeditated and made repeatedly over time using telecommunications systems operated by Voice of America, a government-funded news agency headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Authorities said the threats were made via phone calls traced to multiple lines within the VOA’s studios and control rooms.
Investigators state Jason used government-owned equipment to place at least eight threatening calls directed at Greene, her staff and their families.
The U.S. Capitol Police, in collaboration with the Anne Arundel County Police Department, arrested Jason early Thursday morning.
The arrest followed a months-long investigation that identified the origin of the threatening communications.
Jason was reportedly employed at VOA during the period in which the threatening calls were made.
Voice of America is funded by U.S. taxpayers and is part of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent agency of the federal government responsible for overseeing international broadcasting operations.
In a public statement released after the indictment, Kari Lake—currently serving as President Donald Trump’s adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media—commended law enforcement and the U.S. Attorney’s office for their swift action.
Lake issued a response on X, stating, “I am sickened by what Congresswoman @RepMTG, her staff and their families had to go through as the threats persisted for 15 months.”
She continued, “It angers me that a taxpayer-funded VOA employee would use taxpayer-funded equipment in a depraved way to threaten the lives of people, including an elected official. If he is found guilty, I hope he is sentenced to the maximum amount of time behind bars.”
Lake also thanked interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro for taking the threats seriously and pursuing the matter to indictment.
The indictment notes that Jason’s threats involved graphic and violent language, and allegedly referenced plans to use firearms to kill Greene, her aides and their families.
Prosecutors allege these threats constituted attempts to influence or intimidate a federal official in the performance of her duties, per The Hill.
In addition to threatening Rep. Greene, Jason is accused of engaging in anonymous telecommunications harassment—a federal offense that prohibits repeated unwanted contact with the intent to intimidate or alarm the recipient.
Rep. Greene has faced multiple threats during her time in office.
In a separate and unrelated case, a Georgia man named Sean Patrick Cirillo pleaded guilty in July 2024 to making three threatening phone calls to Greene’s Washington, D.C. congressional office.
The Post Millennial highlighted that Cirillo admitted to making the calls in November 2023 and pleaded guilty to federal charges related to threatening a federal official.
His case was prosecuted independently of Jason’s, but both matters underscore the ongoing threats that members of Congress continue to face.
