Brian Stelter Reveals MAGA Man Who Pled Guilty to Threatening Journalists Sent Him Terrifying Messages
CNN’s Brian Stelter revealed that he and his family were sent disturbing messages by a man charged with threatening dozens of journalists for their reporting on the 2020 election.
On Reliable Sources, Stelter covered news that Robert Lemke, a 36-year-old California man, plead guilty for sending threatening messages to the family of a journalist. Prosecutors said he also targeted dozens of other journalists and their families. According to reports, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, and Stelter were all targeted, with many of the messages being sent the same day as the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Stelter spoke about his experience with Lemke on Sunday:
So that man in California watched a video of [my 2020 coverage] and apparently got angry. Angry enough that he researched me and my family members online. He found our phone numbers, he found our addresses. He texted and tried to lure me into a conversation. He said my brother was being ‘cooperative.’ It was late at night so I got freaked out. I called my brother, and sure enough, he was getting strange messages too. Then it got worse. He sent me a voice message saying ‘you can either choose to dig the hole deeper or stop digging because we’re not effing around.’
Stelter explained that things got “really creepy” when Lemke text him a picture of his father’s tombstone. He said the harasser also texted him about his mother’s house “implying he was there before moving on to other victims” at CNN and elsewhere.
“It’s clear from the evidence this man was triggered over and over again by accurate news reports about Trump losing,” Stelter said. “You tell the truth, your family gets threats.”
Stelter concluded by speaking of how journalists get targeted by harassers and trolls all the time, but such threats rarely get prosecuted. He offered his thanks to the authorities, along with his hope that Lemke’s prosecution would make it clear that “trying to instill fear in others by threat will not be tolerated by law enforcement.”
“This is the type of harassment that journalists feel every day. It is pervasive,” Stelter said. “I hope this case really is a statement.”
Watch above, via CNN.
