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President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, May 23, 2025 (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta).
A man from Illinois has allegedly vowed to assassinate President Donald Trump on the White House lawn using a “heavy caliber” anti-materiel sniper rifle. The Justice Department reports that he informed the CIA of his intentions, stating, “I am plotting to kill the president … in an ambush.”
Michael Kovco, a 29-year-old resident of Chicago, is accused of sending threatening messages via the official CIA and White House websites, expressing a desire to target not only Trump but also U.S. Secret Service agents and Trump’s son, Barron, in a coordinated series of attacks.
According to the DOJ’s federal complaint, Kovco wrote to the CIA on August 15, 2025, requesting a “clear line of fire from the White House to Marine One” for Trump’s next garden departure. The weapon mentioned, an anti-materiel rifle, is a large-caliber firearm typically used to destroy military assets.
Months later, on March 17, 2026, Kovco allegedly sent another message to the White House, threatening to “take a serrated knife and saw Barron Trump’s head off” after positioning a high-caliber sniper rifle to target the White House Lawn from a nearby spot.
In his messages, Kovco declared his “absolute intent” to plan and execute an assassination attempt on the President, emphasizing the seriousness of his threats, as stated in the complaint.
On March 19, Kovco referred to himself as an “admiral” and allegedly said, “I intend to purchase a high caliber assault rifle with a large magazine and assemble several improvised explosive devices within my home … and leave them in several key places around Washington DC until I get justice for my rape from the US government.”
The DOJ says Kovco threatened to “hunt” any Secret Service agent that comes to his door. “He better not tell me any identifying information at all like first or last name or pet name or address or place of work because im going to buy a small concealable firearm and go shoot up his place of work immediately if he tells me anything,” Kovco said in his March 19 messages to the White House, per the complaint.
The messages were allegedly sent just two hours after a federal agent and two Secret Service task force officers visited Kovco’s residence in Chicago to inquire about the threats he made on March 17.
While threatening Barron Trump, Kovco allegedly said, “I’m literally gonna find out how Barron Trump walks around in NYC or DC or wherever the f— he is and run at him with a serrated bread knife and saw that motherf—ers head off.”
Federal authorities linked Kovco to the threats after he included his personal contact information with the messages, including his phone number and email address.
Kovco was arrested on April 3 and charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, according to a DOJ press release. He faces up to five years in federal prison, if convicted.