As the F.B.I. moved in on a man who allegedly threatened Senator Patty
Murray, Democrat of Washington, because of her support for health care
legislation, law enforcement agents faced a challenge: they needed to
confirm that Charles A. Wilson, the man whose phone number was used to
leave menacing messages on her office voicemail, was in fact the man who
made the threats.

So they found a convenient way to get Mr. Wilson talking about the issue
that seemed to be weighing so heavily on him. Special Agent Cory Cote of
the F.B.I. called Mr. Wilson at his home number and, according to the
criminal complaint (PDF), “disguised himself as a representative of
Patients United Now, a group that was ostensibly attempting to have the
federal health care reform legislation repealed.”

Mr. Wilson apparently was interested in what the group had to say: the
call lasted about 14 minutes, according to the complaint.

Patients United Now is a real organization, part of the Americans for
Prosperity Foundation, a conservative, antitax advocacy group, that has
actively opposed the legislation and also runs a project called “Hands
Off My Health Care.” The foundation has also been active in publicizing
Tea Party events. It advocates for the federal government to “return to
its Constitutional limits” and also seeks to highlight the “alarmism”
around global warming.

“As A.F.P. Foundation has said repeatedly, we condemn any threats of
violence or acts of violence,” Tim Phillips, president of the Americans
for Prosperity Foundation, said in an e-mail message. “The F.B.I. did
not contact A.F.P. Foundation about this matter. Over the last year, we
have been one of the leading grassroots organizations opposing a
Washington takeover of our health care. Perhaps that is why they chose
to use our name, though they did not notify us.”

As the call began, the suspect, Mr. Wilson, confirmed his identity for
the undercover F.B.I. agent.

And according to the complaint charging him with threatening a public
official, Mr. Wilson quickly supplied confirmation that he had made the
threats against Senator Murray.

“Wilson made several statements that further confirm he was the caller
on the voicemail messages,” the complaint said.

(a) Wilson repeatedly expressed his strong dislike for the recent
health-care reform legislation (i.e. “I hate it. I hate it!”) (b) Wilson
confirmed that he regularly placed calls to Senator Murray’s and Senator
Maria Cantwell’s offices. (i.e., “I call Murray every day. I call
Cantwell. They don’t like hearing from me. … I call them every day.”)
(c) Wilson referred to Senators Murray and Cantwell as the “Pike Street
whores,” as does the caller in the voicemail messages; (d) Wilson also
referred to Senator Murray as “sneaker shoes Murray,” a phrase that also
was stated on some of the voicemail messages; and (e) Wilson made the
following remarks, which are similar to the rhetoric in many of the
voicemail messages. “They need to be strung up, and I mean put the
gallows. I will take no prisoners. … And I don’t care what they think.
They want to come throw me in jail, they can go ahead and do that.
That’s fine.”
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