Federal Grand Jury Investigates Possible Twitter Threats Against Bachmann

A federal grand jury is investigating a man who used Twitter to allegedly threaten Sixth District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann while she was on the presidential campaign trail.

The Twitter user allegedly “professed desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities with” Bachmann, according to a 13-page ruling U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth released Thursday.

The judge in the case says the tweets are “extremely crude and in almost incomprehensible poor taste.”

According to a post on Bring Me the News, the judge said the person responsible would likely not face charges because the messages would not constitute a “true threat” to the congresswoman.

Lamberth disclosed the investigation in a 13-page ruling that denied the user’s request to quash a grand jury subpoena seeking his identity from Twitter, according to this story in the Washington Post. After learning about the vulgar tweet involving Bachmann, a grand jury subpoenaed Twitter for the man’s identity.

Twitter then alerted the user to the subpoena, and the user—only identified in the judge’s ruling as Mr. X—then filed a motion to quash it, the Star Tribune reports.

The judge’s ruling states there is a compelling interest for the government to investigate the threats against Bachmann, but needs the Twitter user’s identity to assess the legitimacy.

View the PDFs attached to this post to read what the judge wrote.