Kansas man charged with threatening President Joe Biden

On Saturday, a man from Kansas who was on his way to Washington, D.C. was being held on charges of threatening United States President Joe Biden, according to authorities.

Scott Merryman had been in the Washington County Detention Center in Hagerstown, Maryland while waiting for a court appearance that has been set for Monday.

As noted in a court filing in the case, Merryman called police in Independence, Kansas on Tuesday, telling them he was on his way to Washington to see the president.

Merryman said in a telephone interview with a U.S. Secret Service agent on Wednesday that God had instructed him to go to the nation’s capital and cut off “the head of the serpent in the heart of the nation,” said the filing. 

Even though Merryman denied in the interview that President Biden was the serpent, he did say in an earlier Facebook post that the president is the “AntiChrist,” adding that “he will suffer a fatal head wound.” Merryman added in the post, “I’ll deal that blow in Christ’s name.”

A different Secret Service agent was able to locate Merryman in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Hagerstown, Maryland. The agent searched the man and was able to find three rounds of ammunition and a spotting scope, but he did not obtain a gun or other weapons.

The court document also says that Merryman called the White House switchboard on Thursday and made threats on President Biden. The criminal complaint that called for his arrest on the federal charges was then filed on Friday.