Man Who Threatened Sen. Tim Scott Called Other Lawmakers Too: FBI

COLUMBIA, SC — Jason Bell — the Cochran, Georgia, man charged with threatening to kill U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina — previously threatened other members of Congress, the NAACP and even CNN, the FBI said. Bell called Scott's office Oct. 23 and said "I am going to kill that "m--- f---" because Bell said the black senator blamed white people and neo-Nazi groups for problems in America, FBI agent Amanda Risner said in a sworn statement.

The worker in Scott's office who answered the phone tried to get information from Bell, but he hung up. But Bell called back 15 minutes later from the same number and revealed his name. Since the threatening call, Bell has left nearly a dozen more threatening voice messages, Risner said.

Bell, 40, was arrested last week and charged with interstate transmission of threat to injure. He has a history of threatening calls to members of Congress and often praised Dylann Roof, the white man on death row for killing nine black church members in a racially charged attack in Charleston, South Carolina, two years ago, Risner said.

Before the Scott threats, Capitol Police in Washington called Bell, who told them he was "not violent and was only trying to have a conversation," Risner wrote.

Bell, whom jail records list as white, said he was trying to get lawmakers to understand the "untruths of black victimization." He said he had been making calls for six years and would continue until he was understood, Risner said.

Police in Washington sent local deputies to the home that Bell shares with his mother in August, where they found him sitting on his porch, yelling into his phone. Bell also has threatened to kill himself in calls to Congress, but won't because of his mother, the FBI said.

Bell also has threatened TV stations, and court records in DeKalb County, Georgia, indicate he still faces a state charge of making terroristic threats. Bell made threatening phone calls to CNN in March, Risner said, although those threats weren't detailed and the FBI didn't say which member of Congress Bell had threatened before.

Bell's lawyer didn't return an email seeking comment and Bell's phone numbers went unanswered Wednesday. Bell remains in jail awaiting a Friday court hearing in federal court in Macon, Georgia.

By JEFFREY COLLINS, Associated Press

Photo credit: J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press