Arrested Marine Vet: Patriot or Nutcase Revolutionary? See the Facebook posts here
On Thursday, Marine veteran Brandon Raub was apparently taken into custody by local law enforcement in conjunction with several federal agencies. Mr. Raub’s mother maintains that her son was arrested because of his “patriotic Facebook postings.”
As of the writing of this column, the agencies responsible for his arrest have still not publicized a charging document explaining why Mr. Raub was arrested. Consequently, much of what we know about this case is from a radio interview with Mr. Raub’s mother as well as an apparent video taken of the actual arrest itself.
So what exactly happened with Mr. Raub? Because the FBI and Secret Service were allegedly involved in his arrest, it’s my guess that the feds will allege that he (1) threatened the President and/or Vice-President, and/or (2) advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government.
The two federal laws at issue include 18 United States Code Section 871 and 18 United States Code Section 2385. The first, 18 USC 871, criminalizes “any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect.” So, in layman’s terms, if you threaten to hurt the President or his successor, you may get to spend some time in the federal pen.
The second, 18 USC 2385, makes a federal felon out of anyone who advocates the “propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government.” In other words, never threaten to overthrow the government through any violent act. Using a ballot box revolution, however, is perfectly acceptable.
Did the Marine vet cross the line with respect to these laws? Let’s take a look at the only information currently available outside of his mother’s interview and video, Brandon Raub’s Facebook page. Continue to Part II, Raub Facebook posts HERE.Written by Joe Miller
