A McLean man admitted yesterday (Thursday) to threatening the life of a government official and longtime ally of President Donald Trump.
Scott Allen Bolger, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of making an interstate threat after sending a message on Dec. 23 to special presidential envoy Richard Grenell threatening to shoot him in the head.
According to an affidavit, Bolger contacted the victim via Google Voice and told him “step on U Street and get a bullet put between your eyes, loyalist pig skin p—y[.]”
Though the target of Bolger’s threat isn’t named in court documents, the Justice Department confirmed to Fox News last year that it was Grenell, who’s also serving as acting president of the Kennedy Center.
Grennell also publicly thanked Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Lindsey Halligan — who has since stepped down as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — for the arrest.
I am grateful to Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Lindsey Halligan for finding this deranged individual and locking him up.
His name is Scott Bolger. https://t.co/ZvUOkCoHCp
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) December 31, 2025
The threat was reported to the FBI, which traced its origin back to Bolger “based on information in a law enforcement database,” the affidavit said.
When police visited his McLean apartment the day after the threat was made, Bolger allegedly provided a fake name and denied “that anyone named Scott Bolger lived at” the residence. It was only after law enforcement asked staff of the apartment building if Bolger was a tenant that Bolger confirmed his identity.
During a subsequent interview, Bolger admitted that he had searched for Grenell’s phone number online and called to confirm that it was correct before he made the threat.
Bolger was arrested on Dec. 26, according to court records. He has remained in police custody since then.
“Threats of violence are serious crimes with serious consequences,” Halligan said when announcing charges against Bolger in December. “Those who target federal employees should know that we will investigate and prosecute these offenses to the fullest extent of the law.”
During Thursday’s plea hearing, Bolger also admitted to sending “threatening and harassing messages” to another victim, though that person isn’t a public official, according to prosecutors.
Bolger, who was not charged for his messages to the unidentified second victim, created multiple accounts on X (the social media site formerly known as Twitter) and Proton Mail to harass the second victim between October 2022 and November 2025.
Bolger also sent the second victim “private indecent messages” of the victim and made “a public facing profile” featuring the images, prosecutors said.
Following his guilty plea, Bolger is scheduled to be sentenced on May 20. He could face up to five years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia says.
Photo via White House/Flickr
