Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s Post on X Urging Assassination of Harris Prompts Visit From FBI

The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire is in hot water for a post to its X account about Vice President Harris being assassinated — and the state affiliate of America’s third largest political party isn’t backing down or apologizing. “Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero,” the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire posted to X at 2:47 a.m. Sunday. The post was deleted hours later, but screenshots of it went viral. Several reposters tagged the FBI and Secret Service, who confirmed in statements they are aware of the post.One of the administrators who writes LPNH posts is a tech entrepreneur and “Free Stater,” Jeremy Kauffman, who posted a video to X Monday afternoon of two men identifying themselves as FBI coming to his house at Manchester to question him.Sunday’s assassination tweet is hardly the most offensive or shocking content from the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, which has garnered attention and built a following with posts mocking Meghan McCain for crying over her father’s coffin with the words, “Happy Holidays,” and mocking a Black former state representative from Ohio, Nina Turner, for advocating for free insulin by saying she should be “picking crops for free.” Bad timing, though, is an understatement — Secret Service thwarted a second assassination attempt on President Trump Sunday afternoon.“Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero,” the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire posted to X at 2:47 a.m. Sunday. The post was deleted hours later. Via XRepublican and Democratic leaders in the state were quick to condemn LPNH’s post. “Political violence is never acceptable, and their statement was disgusting, dangerous and wrong,” the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, Ray Buckley, posted to X. “I 100 percent condemn this statement from LPNH. It is abhorrent and should never have been posted,” the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, Chase Oliver, posted to X. The LPNH account replied to Mr. Oliver, calling on him to “F..k off and read any book on libertarianism, you infiltrating leftist [gay slur].”Why is an official political party account posting inflammatory content — and shouldn’t it be supporting its own party’s nominee?“I am a Free-State-first Libertarian,” Mr. Kauffman told the Sun in 2022, after LPNH posted the Meghan McCain “Happy Holidays” tweet that went viral. Mr. Kauffman explained then and has multiple times since that he conceives of the LPNH X account as a recruitment tool for the Free State Project, a movement to get “liberty lovers” to move to the “Live Free or Die” state to influence state politics and create a libertarian homeland.Mr. Kauffman is a Free Stater and says he’s not interested in the often-futile effort of trying to elect Libertarians. He thinks electing liberty Republicans is a more effective strategy to maximize freedom in the Granite State. He is voting for Trump in November.Mr. Kauffman did not return the Sun’s request for comment. LPNH clarified Sunday that they deleted the post because it violated X’s terms of service, not the law. On Monday, LPNH released an official statement to X.“We would never advocate for the assassination of a tyrannical President. That’s illegal,” the LPNH statement says. “We were merely acknowledging how some members would react to one.”“We want progressives, socialists, and democrats to be embarrassed to live here,” the statement says. “We do not speak for the NHGOP, the NHLA, the Free State Project, or any elected Democrat or Republican. We are the vanguard of the Free State movement, willing to do what must be done.”“The only thing I‘ve seen is them doubling down on the comment, which concerns me,” the chairman of the New Hampshire GOP, Chris Ager, tells the Sun. He says he condemns the post “in the strongest possible terms.” Mr. Ager, though, calls libertarian-leaning Republicans “an asset” in the state. He says any attempt to align Republicans with LPNH posts or to try to pin Republican gubernatorial candidate, Kelly Ayotte, to Mr. Kauffman, because they once posed for a photograph together, is “on the verge of being ludicrous.”“There are pictures of Donald Trump with Al Sharpton. Do you really think Al Sharpton is a Trump supporter?” Mr. Ager says.There is also much debate within the Free State movement about the impact of the LPNH X account. Some like how LPNH widens the Overton window. Others call the posts offensive — or worse. As within the national Libertarian Party, the Free State movement is undergoing its own left-right schism. Many prominent Libertarians have declared that they are not voting for their party’s presidential candidate this year, after Trump spoke at their convention in May and promised to pardon Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht, and to appoint a libertarian to his cabinet. Democrats are already trying to tie Ms. Ayotte and other Republican candidates to Free Staters like Mr. Kauffman to paint them as “extreme.” They are calling on these candidates to disavow Mr. Kauffman, who last week was posting mainly about the reportedly lower average IQ of Haitians. In tight races, the liberty vote in New Hampshire could decide an election, as it did with Maggie Hassan’s U.S. Senate race in 2016.“Almost every Libertarian in New Hampshire I know is voting straight Republican this November,” Mr. Kauffman replied to a post, since deleted, by the New Hampshire Republican Party criticizing Libertarians in the state. “Don’t punch your own team.”The FBI’s attempt to question Mr. Kauffman went viral Monday night. “Could you please stop recording?” one of the agents asks as they approach his house. “No, it’s a First Amendment right,” Mr. Kauffman says.The agents decline to show their IDs or state their full names.“I’m not going to talk to people who claim to be federal agents unless they can show me identification,“ Mr. Kauffman says.“We want to make sure that there aren’t any other threats,” one of the agents says.“No, you’re coming because you’re part of a regime that does this kind of thing when you know laws aren’t being broken,” Mr. Kauffman says. “And that’s an embarrassment, man. Didn’t you guys read the constitution? Do you not believe in America?”The agents walk away and get in their black SUV. Mr. Kauffman films their license plate and sticks up his middle finger in front of the camera as they drive away. The post has 17 million views and 144,000 likes as of publication. In the last few days, Mr. Kauffman gained more than 60,000 followers on X.After publication, Mr. Kauffman responded to the Sun by saying, “Kelly Ayotte and Lily Tang Williams are Republicans, not Libertarians. Anyone who tries to force Republicans to be responsible for statements from an entirely separate political party is being dishonest and unfair.”

Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s Post on X Urging Assassination of Harris Prompts Visit From FBI

Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s Post on X Urging Assassination of Harris Prompts Visit From FBI

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