A 63-year-old Oklahoma man has been charged with eight counts related to threatening to assault and murder Senate Majority Leader John Thune and members of his family, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma announced Thursday.
David Glen Shuck is accused of making three separate threatening phone calls to Thune’s office in March 2026, according to prosecutors. The indictment, unsealed in connection with the case and obtained by Politico, identifies Thune as the alleged target. The U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI are investigating.
The indictment does not assign a specific motive for the threats beyond stating that they are connected to Thune’s official duties, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department said in a statement that the case is related to President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, an initiative described as an interagency effort to “protect First Amendment rights while targeting individuals and organizations engaged in political violence.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has described NSPM-7 as an attempt to “wrongly conflate” constitutionally protected free speech unconnected to any actual criminal conduct with “political violence.”