Man sends death threats to journalists; pleads guilty

A man indicted on Oct. 28, 2025, for threatening to kill Washington Post opinion columnist Catherine Rampell pleaded guilty to federal charges in Gainesville, Florida, in February 2026, including making a similar threat against British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan.

The man, Peter Daniel Ring, made threats to at least 14 victims between May and September 2025, targeting Rampell and Hasan, the former MSNBC host and founder of the digital media platform Zeteo, along with Muslims, Democrats and several political leaders, while also attacking MSNBC as “fake news,” according to federal court documents.

In a June 23 email sent to the Post, Ring called for Rampell’s death and that of her family, said an FBI criminal complaint.

“I will kill every liberal Marxist communist starting with you,” he wrote. “Mark my words when the day comes I will string you up like a lynching or whatever I come up with.”

Ring also posted a comment about Rampell on YouTube, writing, “Bitches like her need to be killed.” He added that someone should tell him when she dies so her family could be killed as well, the indictment stated.

After the FBI identified Ring as the source of the threat, he told officers that he would not make any more, according to court documents. But two months later, the FBI received a tip that he had posted additional religious and politically motivated threats of violence, which prompted his arrest.

“My office takes seriously any threat of violence, and we have zero-tolerance for criminal threats directed toward others because of their religious or political affiliation,” U.S. Attorney John Heekin said in a news release.

In a September 2025 comment posted under a YouTube video of Hasan titled “Charlie Kirk Isn’t a Martyr for Free Speech,” Ring wrote, “We are going to kill you all,” according to court records.

Under another video regarding Kirk, the right-wing activist who was shot and killed that month, Ring called for war and threatened to kill Hasan and Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota. “Death to u and ur family,” he wrote.

In a statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Rampell thanked law enforcement for locating Ring and holding him accountable for the threats he made against her and others. She also expressed gratitude to Alyssa Rosenberg, the Post’s letters editor at the time, who alerted security to the threats.

“I receive a lot of hate mail and have developed a thick skin over the years. Graphic threats of violence against myself and my family are nonetheless always troubling, particularly when firearms are easy to come by,” she wrote. “And they are undoubtedly related to the rhetoric we hear from public figures, including the president, who demonize journalists for just trying to do our jobs.”

On Feb. 12, 2026, Ring pleaded guilty to two of three counts of writing threatening communications; the remaining count will be dismissed, per a plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 28.

For each count, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Update: This article was revised to include threats against journalist Mehdi Hasan.