MADISON – The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday it is aware of social media posts made by a Wisconsin liberal activist who launched a promotion to offer free beer from his craft brewery on the day President Donald Trump dies.
“Hateful rhetoric and speech are despicable,” Caroline Clancy, spokeswoman for the FBI Milwaukee office, said in a statement about recent posts made by Kirk Bangstad, owner of Minocqua Brewing Company in the wake of an alleged assassination attempt against Trump.
“Threats of violence or terrorism will be investigated by the FBI, and the public is encouraged to report any threats of violence.”
The state Democratic Party on Sunday denounced Bangstad’s post promoting the idea of assassinating Trump in the wake of a shooting at a Washington D.C., event Trump attended.
Bangstad, owner of the Minocqua Brewing and founder of a political action committee supporting progressive politics, said Saturday in a post from his brewing company’s Facebook account, “Well, we almost got #freebeerday. Either a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship or he faked another assassination to get a positive news cycle.”
The post was made after a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington D.C, the evening of April 25. U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the gunman appeared to have targeted Trump and officials in his administration who were attending the event.
“We’ll never know. Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens,” the post read, referring to a promotional campaign Bangstad created to hand out free beer when Trump dies. Trump has been the target of previous assassination attempts.
In January, the brewery posted on Facebook that it would sell free beer “all day long, the day he dies,” appearing to refer to Trump but not by name. “Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we’ll make good on that promise.”
Bangstad is also selling shirts that read, “I Wish It Was Free Beer Day At Minocqua Brewing Company” and voodoo dolls featuring Trump’s face.
At the time, Bangstad told Fox News that he would welcome anyone to celebrate the “impending death of a twice-impeached convicted felon covering up for the largest child sex ring in the history of the United States — someone who has enabled his contemporary American Gestapo to brutally murder two American protesters in a matter of week.”
Bangstad did not directly respond to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s request for comment about the Democratic Party’s criticism, but in a separate Facebook post Sunday he hit back at the Democrats who criticized his post and stood by his previous comments by linking to merchandise for sale that promotes Trump’s death.
“Our celebration of life is going to be legendary!” he wrote in the post.
To the Journal Sentinel, he questioned why the newspaper “would spend its limited time asking the Democrat Party of Wisconsin what it thinks about our upcoming offer of ‘free beer the day he dies’.”
On Tuesday, after multiple Democratic candidates criticized Bangstad’s rhetoric, Bangstad then characterized his statements as “hyperbole.”
“… for those progressives who need to exhale a bit more, my bit that got me in trouble: ‘our resistance brothers and sisters need to work on their marksmanship,’ was hyperbole meant to offset the more important punchline − that this assassination attempt seemed staged,” he wrote.
“Yes, #freebeerday is gallows humor, but it’s also comforting humor. Who doesn’t want the suffering of America to end? The day ‘he’ dies will do a LOT to end that suffering.”
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: FBI says it’s aware of Wisconsin liberal’s Trump assassination posts
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
