Rep. Eric Swalwell 'disturbed' by threat from ex-49er Bruce Miller
East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell is taking seriously an online death threat that came from the Twitter account he’s traced to San Francisco 49ers fullback Bruce Miller.
Swalwell shared a screenshot of a direct message Wednesday that came from @BruceMillerIII that warned Swalwell it was “almost time” to either go to Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. military detention center in Cuba, or “just execution.” The message was followed by three laughing emojis and an expletive ahead of the word “traitor.”
“I don’t generally publicize threats except in this case there was an imminency to it – he said, ‘Almost time’ – and also (Miller’s) prior history of violence with two arrests,” Swalwell said Thursday from Washington D.C. in an exclusive phone interview with this news organization.
“I thought the best way to protect myself was to make sure I put the threat out there and we’d hopefully learn more who it was,” Swalwell added, “and it was indeed him. I just put him on notice that we see this, you’re not going to intimidate me, and I’m going to protect my family and my staff.”
In a direct message to this news organization, the Miller account stated “I speak for myself,” and deferred further comment to a reply he sent Swalwell on Twitter, which read in part: “That was in no way a threat to you or your family,” calling it a “harmless game of ‘would you rather’ Guantanamo or execution.”
That Twitter account includes posts and pictures from Miller’s 49ers’ days, which ran from 2011 until his September 2016 release. The 49ers immediately released him after a late-night arrest in San Francisco that brought seven felony assault and battery charges.
The reply Thursday to Swalwell alleged he committed treason by “trying to frame” former president Donald Trump. The account added: “I’m not maga, republican or democrat. I’m an American who is sick of watching the corrupt establishment destroy our country.”
The Miller tweet said he was “content with trolling corrupt politicians in my dms” and only responded publicly once Swalwell did.
“He’s an American, so he has a right to troll; that’s his First Amendment right,” Swalwell said during his 15-minute phone interview with this news organization. “But we’re in an environment right now, and I was at the Capitol on January 6, that when people intimate violence, I take them at their word. I’ve seen the cost of not taking people at their word.
“So I think he knows what he was doing. I want him to know I’m going to protect my staff and my family, and I’m not going to stop doing my job.”
Messages from this news organization to the United States Capitol Police were not immediately returned. Swalwell said he had yet to hear of any findings in their investigation.
“My chief of staff spends eight to 10 hours a week working with Capitol Police and the FBI working on threats. We get dozens of them,” Swalwell added. “I don’t publicize most of them. There was an immediacy here with someone who we suspected has a past with violence.”
Miller, 35, was released by the 49ers prior to the 2016 season when arrested on assault and battery charges at a San Francisco hotel, 18 months after an arrest in San Jose for suspicion of spousal abuse.
Miller briefly revived his NFL career in 2020 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose general manager, Trent Baalke, held the same role with the 49ers during Miller’s tenure there. Miller played eight games in that 2020 season, including just one game after serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
In June 2015, Miller pleaded no contest to misdemeanor disturbing of the peace after a March 5 argument with his then-fiancee. “I learned a lot about myself and ways to deal with situations,” Miller said then. “People are going to think what they want to believe. People that know me, I didn’t have to explain myself one time.”
Swalwell, 42, is a 49ers fan, and, as a teenager in the East Bay, he was a kicker for Dublin High School’s football team and also served as the soccer team’s captain.
Swalwell is in his sixth term as the U.S. representative for California’s 14th congressional district. He serves on the House’s homeland security and judiciary committees. Swalwell made a presidential bid briefly in 2019. Three months ago, Swalwell was designated to serve as the top Democrat on the subcommittee for cybersecurity and infrastructure protection.
“The way I see it, these are divided times. I get it,” Swalwell said. “We’ve been through it before. Passion on both sides will come out. But when you escalate to violence, that’s not how we resolve our differences.
“We can be a country that resolves differences by violence, or we can do it by voting. To me, that was clearly in the realm that violence was the way to resolve a political difference.”
Source: The Mercury News
