KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge ruled Monday that there’s adequate reason to detain a southwest Missouri man accused of threatening to assault and kill Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
“Mr. Hubert, words have meaning,” Chief Magistrate Judge David P. Rush told Kenneth R. Hubert during a detention hearing at the federal courthouse in Springfield. “And your words rise to the level of posing a danger.”
Hubert, 63, of Marionville, was charged with threatening to harm Cleaver, a Democrat who represents Kansas City, on Jan. 7 with the “intent to impede, intimidate and interfere” with his official duties, the Justice Department announced last week.
On Monday, Hubert pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege Hubert left a voicemail Jan. 7 at Cleaver’s Independence office, in which he used a racial slur and said, “How about a noose ... around his neck?” He has made similar threats before, including one in 2019 aimed at Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, the FBI said.
At Monday’s hearing, Casey Clark, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued that while Hubert has no criminal convictions on his record, he has shown “criminal-like conduct” dating back to 2014, when he left derogatory voicemails with a federal judge in Montana. Though Hubert did not participate in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Clark said, his words “encouraged” such action.
That day, a violent mob breached the U.S. Capitol with the intent to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
In a motion before the hearing, prosecutors said Hubert’s history showed he had “complete disregard” for law enforcement, which tried to stop him from making harassing calls. They contended he was a flight risk who could intimidate witnesses.
David Mercer, Hubert’s attorney with the Federal Public Defender Office, argued Hubert was not a flight risk, noting he has spent most of his life in southern Missouri and that he was willing to be put on house arrest. Mercer also said Hubert, who previously served in the military, has medical issues, such as high blood pressure, that make him high risk if he contracts COVID-19 behind bars.
“It has definitely gotten his attention,” Mercer said of Hubert’s arrest, later adding: “He’s lived a completely law-abiding life.”
The judge said while he thought it was a stretch to say Hubert “encouraged” the Capitol riot, he noted that he would think he was in danger if he received calls like the ones Hubert allegedly left the representatives. Though he mentioned he is a proponent of free speech, Rush said he was troubled by Hubert’s pattern of calls.
“And it’s escalated,” he said.
In 2016, for example, Hubert was investigated for calls he made to the Council on American-Islamic Relations in St. Louis, according to prosecutors.
“Pack up your tents and go back to your f------ Arab country, that’s if you want to stay alive,” Hubert allegedly told the civil rights and advocacy group.
At the time, Hubert “described himself as a ‘right wing nut job,’” the FBI reported.
Then on May 6, 2019, Hubert called Cohen’s office in Washington, D.C., and said he had “a noose with the congressman’s name on it” and that he intended to “put a noose around his neck and drag him behind his pickup truck,” according to prosecutors.
The accusations against Hubert also include two voicemails he left Jan 6. with the Missouri Democratic Party, in which he allegedly said, “You see the s--- happening at the Capitol? It’s coming your way next.”
When he left the voicemail at Cleaver’s office a day after the insurrection, Hubert called the representative “dumb as a rock,” court records show.
“Amen, A-woman?” Hubert allegedly asked. “How about a noose ... around his neck? He’s a dumb mother------.”
An Cleaver employee reported the voicemail to police.
Hubert was referencing Cleaver’s pun at the end of his opening prayer on the first day of the new Congress. Cleaver, a Kansas City Methodist minister serving in his ninth term, ended his prayer with the words, “Amen and ‘A-woman.’” Cleaver said at the time that the pun was intended to recognize the record number of women serving in the new Congress.
Cleaver’s words spurred a torrent of criticism from conservatives, who accused him of misunderstanding the meaning of “amen,” a Hebrew word that means “so be it.” Former President Donald Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was among those who attacked Cleaver.
“I am deeply disappointed that my prayer has been misinterpreted and misconstrued by some to fit a narrative that stokes resentment and greater division among portions of our population,” Cleaver said following the criticism.
Cleaver is the former pastor of St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City. He told The Star in January that the church had to temporarily shut down its phone lines because of abusive phone calls it received in the wake of the controversy.
“We get a lot of phone calls, N-words, the threats about all kind of things,” said Cleaver, who was the first Black mayor of Kansas City.
When he was questioned about his alleged voicemail to Cleaver, Hubert told FBI agents he was also previously investigated by the U.S. Secret Service for saying President Barack Obama “needed to be hanged from a light post,” according to prosecutors.
Shortly after prosecutors announced the charges against Hubert last week, Cleaver told The Star he did not know Hubert personally and said he first learned about the threat the week prior from Cohen, a Democrat.
Cleaver has faced threats of violence before in his long political career. In 2014, a man tried to firebomb Cleaver’s Kansas City office. He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2016.
