Main: President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo/Alex Brandon). Inset: Valeriy Kouznetsov (Alexandria County Sheriff's Office).
A 41-year-old Virginia man is going to prison for repeatedly threatening to kill Donald Trump and his family, vowing the president would "pay dearly" and that there would be a "repeat" of the attempt on his life from July 2024.
U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston on Wednesday ordered Valeriy Kouznetsov to serve 27 months in a federal correctional facility plus an additional three years of supervised release, authorities announced.
Alston handed down the sentence after Kouznetsov pleaded guilty to one count of making threatening interstate communications. A second count of that charge and an additional charge of making threats against the president were dismissed.
According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators with the United States Secret Service began investigating the account @VVKTsar on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after learning about a message from April 17, 2025, referring to Trump as "a hopeless and helpless American b—" and adding, "I will murder all of you filthy rats."
Authorities then discovered several additional threats posted by the same user in the preceding weeks.
For example, on March 28, 2025, the user wrote that Trump would "pay dearly" and referenced the security of the president's family while alluding to the attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, according to investigators.
"B— Trump you provide these suckers security against audit get out of office now Trump I see right away how you affected the situation you either fix it now or you will pay dearly with your family security you want another 7/13 secret service repeat"
Another post on April 14, 2025, stated:
"I don't just accept anything I literally mean getting down on their knees and worshiping and begging for forgiveness and mercy and Trump is too old but your family will pay."
Days later, on April 19, 2025, the account posted another message reading:
"I murder all of you including chump (the president)."
Investigators reviewing the account said they observed numerous posts threatening violence against Trump and other government officials. In several posts, the user referred to the president as "chump."
Authorities said records obtained from X showed the account was registered to the email address [email protected] and was created using an IP address traced to Reston, Virginia. Login records from Google showed activity from that account around the same times as the threatening posts were published.
Kouznetsov previously lived in Reston before relocating to South Carolina in 2025, court documents show.
The complaint notes that the defendant had a history of using violent rhetoric against the president. Kouznetsov was previously convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia for threatening to kill Trump after making a series of violent statements before attempting to approach the president's Washington, D.C., hotel on July 12, 2020.
According to authorities, Kouznetsov jumped security barriers outside the Trump International Hotel and told security personnel he intended to kill the president by "stabbing him in the heart, cutting off his head, and blowing up the hotel."
"Additionally, Kouznetsov stated he would like to take First Lady Melania Trump as his wife," the affidavit states.
Several days later, Kouznetsov was in a Maryland clothing store and restated his plan to kill Trump, also threatening to return to the store with an assault rifle.
Kouznetsov ultimately pleaded guilty to threatening to kill and injure the president, and in 2022 was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Investigators said he also had another encounter with law enforcement in April 2023 outside the White House, where he approached officers claiming he had a meeting arranged with the director of the FBI by then-President Joe Biden. Officers later arrested him for possessing a controlled substance and violating the conditions of his supervised release.
Kouznetsov's supervised release was subsequently revoked and he was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.
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