Federal authorities reportedly arrested a 22-year-old Tennessee woman on Thursday after she reportedly allegedly left a violent threat against Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican of Tennessee, earlier this year.
The arrest has renewed concerns among conservatives about political violence and about the FBI’s delayed response to protecting elected officials.
The Justice Department identified the suspect as Penelope Convertino of Murfreesboro. Prosecutors say that on May 30 she called Blackburn’s Nashville office and left a voicemail threatening to murder the senator.
Convertino has now been charged with making a threat to murder a federal official with the intent to impede, intimidate, and interfere.
“Our public officials should be able to do their jobs without receiving vile death threats,” the Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee said in announcing the charges.
“Threatening public officials with deadly violence cannot and will not be tolerated. We will not hesitate to hold those who make these kinds of violent threats accountable for their crimes.”
According to the Justice Department, Convertino’s voicemail contained a graphic and vulgar death threat: “My name is motherker and I’m gonna kill Marsha Blackburn.
I’m gonna shoot her with a gun. I’m gonna blow up her head on national TV. She will literally have brains splattered behind her because she will not be a person. She will be a dead fking body.”
If convicted, Convertino faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000.
Blackburn, who has emerged as one of the most prominent conservative voices in the Senate and is currently running for governor of Tennessee, said she would not be intimidated.
“Threats against the life of any public official are unacceptable and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent,” Blackburn told WKRN, a Nashville television station. “I am grateful to law enforcement and federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Tennessee for taking this threat seriously and for their swift action. My focus remains on serving the people of Tennessee, and I will not be intimidated or deterred by those who seek to silence me.”
Still, some Republicans questioned why it took months for federal agents to act. Representative Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, criticized the FBI for failing to move quickly.
“Someone threatens [Blackburn’s] life and it takes the [FBI] 3 months to arrest the dirtbag?! That’s a problem,” he posted on X, reflecting frustration within the party over what some view as uneven enforcement of threats against conservatives.
Blackburn, re-elected to the Senate in 2024, has built her career on a brand of unapologetic conservatism and is expected to be a leading contender in Tennessee’s 2026 Republican gubernatorial primary.
She will face Representative John Rose, another Republican, in what is likely to be a closely watched race.
For many conservatives, the case underscores both the growing climate of hostility toward Republican lawmakers and lingering concerns that federal law enforcement is not moving fast enough to ensure their safety.
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