Texas Man Sentenced for Threatening Rep. Waters

Brian Michael Gaherty, a 61-year-old Texas man, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and fined $10,000 for making death threats against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) in 2022. Gaherty pleaded guilty to one count of threatening a United States official and admitted to making threats to assault and murder Waters on four separate occasions. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner added a hate-crime enhancement to the sentence, recognizing that Gaherty targeted Waters due to her race. Despite claiming he had no memory of the threats and attributing his behavior to mental illness, Gaherty's actions caused significant distress to Waters, who expressed fear for her safety.