House Speaker John Boehner was threatened with murder by an Ohio bartender last October, possibly through a poisoned drink at a country club or by being fatally shot, according to court documents made available on Tuesday.
Michael R. Hoyt, known to have a history of psychiatric illness, was indicted last week in Ohio's U.S. District Court on charges of threatening to murder Boehner shortly after being dismissed from his job as a bartender for having a "bad attitude at work," Fox News reported.
"Hoyt told the officer he was Jesus Christ and that he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola," the court documents said.
Last fall, the Cincinnati resident was dismissed from Wetherington Country Club in West Chester, Ohio, where he used to often serve drinks to Boehner, who is a member, for approximately the past five and a half years, a separate complaint said, adding that Hoyt confessed to a Deer Park police officer that before leaving the country club, he "did not have time to put something in John Boehner's drink."
Since nobody is known to check how the drinks are made and served, Hoyt could easily have slipped something in Boehner's drink, he told the police officer, adding that he had also been planning to shoot Boehner with a loaded Beretta .380 automatic pistol.
However, he later told investigators that he had no intention of hurting himself, Boehner or anyone else, the Associated Press reported.
"If I had any intention of hurting Mr. Boehner, I could have poisoned his wine at Wetherington, many many times," he wrote in an email to Boehner's wife on October 28, 2014.
Boehner, R-Ohio, told investigators that although he knew Hoyt, he could not recall any negative interactions with the bartender, ABC News reported.
The 44-year-old, who had been "treated for a psychotic episode" two years ago, had "voluntarily stopped taking" prescribed medication about six months ago, according to the complaint.
Currently, he is being held for mental evaluation and treatment at a psychiatric hospital since the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI believe he "poses a current and ongoing credible threat" to Boehner.
"Speaker Boehner is aware of this situation, and sincerely thanks the FBI, the Capitol Police, and local authorities in Ohio for their efforts," Boehner spokesperson Michael Steel said in a statement.
Meanwhile as speaker of the House, Boehner is second in line for the presidency in the event of a vacancy.
