Kansas man arrested for threatening to assassinate President Trump at Wichita rally 

A Kansas man has been arrested for threatening to kill President Donald Trump at his rally Monday in Wichita, Kansas.

Jaden Read, 24, of Clearwater, Kansas, used Facebook to make several threats against Trump in posts about the rally, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas.

“Political violence and threats of political violence will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Kriegshauser said in the release. “The first Amendment allows for robust disagreement but there are constraints. I caution people to stay within the bounds of constitutionally protected speech.”

A tip from Crime Stoppers reached authorities Thursday, drawing attention to concerning comments Read left on a KAKE News post about Trump’s rally.

“Let’s shoot Trump honestly, where’s our shooter?” one of Read’s comments said. “I’m tired of living this money life.”

“I just got a 308 and 305 round and I’m killing this pedo,” Read wrote in another comment, possibly referring to a .308-caliber rifle and a .30-06 rifle cartridge.

He posted more ominous comments on a separate KWCH 12 News post.

“Can we shoot him in Kansas please I will myself,” Read wrote in one comment.

“[I know] where your speech will be,” he said in another. “Already mapped out roofs around. Finna get kirked since yall couldn’t help him,” a likely reference to Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated during an event in Utah in 2025.

Trump has faced multiple assassination attempts, including when a bullet fired by rooftop shooter Thomas Crooks grazed his ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. A few months later, Ryan Routh hid near the fence at Trump International Golf Club in Florida and pointed a rifle at a Secret Service agent protecting the president.

Crooks was killed at the scene, and Routh has been sentenced to life in prison plus 84 months.

This year, Austin Tucker Martin breached security at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in February while carrying a shotgun and a gas can, and Cole Tomas Allen attempted to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April. Both men were stopped.

Read was arrested Saturday near Clearwater and has been placed in federal custody, where he will remain until his detention hearing, which has not been scheduled.

Trump spoke at the Wichita rally as planned, without incident aside from a few hecklers who were removed from the assembly.

(Photo credit: Screenshot/Facebook/Jaden Read)