Vermont man faces federal charge of threatening to kill the president

BURLINGTON – A Vermont man has been charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump.

Keegan Lagasse, 21, of Richford, appeared late Tuesday in federal court in Burlington for a first hearing in his case. He was not required to enter a plea at the hearing. Instead, an arraignment will be set for a later date. 

Lagasse, a court filing stated, is accused of sending an online tip Aug. 24 to the FBI that included “a threat to take the life of, and inflict bodily harm upon, the current President of the United States.”  

Lagasse, according to the filing, allegedly made threats in the past against schools and businesses in northern Vermont dating back to 2023.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher, the prosecutor, filed a motion ahead of Tuesday’s hearing seeking to have Lagasse held in custody while the federal case against him plays out.

“While the currently available information suggests the defendant may not have had the immediate physical capabilities to fulfill all the threats,” Lasher wrote, “the repetitive nature of the threats and the necessary responses of law enforcement made the circumstances more serious.” 

Sara Puls, an attorney for Lagasse, said during Tuesday’s hearing that Lagasse hasn’t acted on the threats in the past and has taken no substantial steps to carry them out. She said the “offense conduct” has been driven by Lagasse’s alcohol use.

Puls asked that Lagasse be released with conditions that he not use a phone or alcohol pending his admittance into a substance use treatment program. 

Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle agreed to the prosecutor’s request to hold Lagasse in custody as the case moves forward, at least until there was a “structured” plan for his release, including alcohol and mental health treatment. The judge said that Lagasse has dealt with past mental health issues and had stopped taking prescribed medication.

Lagasse, wearing a red prison uniform, spoke little during the hearing other than to answer Doyle’s questions regarding his rights. 

Federal prosecutors filed the charge against Lagasse on Sept. 17. However, it was sealed from public view pending Lagasse’s arrest, according to court filings. It’s not clear when Lagasse was arrested, though the documents in the case became public Monday.

Lagasse, according to documents filed along with the criminal complaint, had been the subject of investigations in the past regarding bomb threats made to schools and businesses in northern Vermont. 

More recently, the filing stated, on Aug. 24 the FBI National Threat Operations Center received an online tip from a person identifying themselves as “Keegan Lagasse” both as the “complainant” and “subject” in the tip.

The submitted text with the online tip stated, “I’m gonna kill trump,” the filing stated. 

Federal agents used phone and IP addresses to track the tip as coming from a location in Richford and eventually Lagasse, according to the criminal complaint.

The filing also stated that Lagasse first made threats against schools in Richford and Essex in 2023. 

Then, the document stated, Lagasse made a threat to blow up and shoot people at a motel in St. Albans in February 2024, followed by a threat in September 2024 to blow up a convenience store in St. Albans and Richford High School, and posting on a social media account in November 2024 threatening to “shoot up” Richford High School.

Also, the filing stated, in November 2025 a person identifying themselves as “Keegan” reported to the FBI National Threat Operations Center that he was going to use an explosive device on the White House and that he was planning to kill Trump or “have someone else kill him” as a murder for hire.

A day after that November 2025 tip, according to the filing, state and federal law enforcement went to Lagasse’s residence in Richford and asked him about the tip. 

“Initially, Lagasse denied knowing why law enforcement would be present and said he had been asking for help,” the filing stated. 

“When prompted to tell the truth and asked about what he had said and if he was serious,” the filing added, “Lagasse responded that he was not serious and had probably said something about a bomb.”

Lagasse, according to the filing, then “confirmed” he contacted the FBI tip website and “reported that he hated and was going to kill Donald Trump.” He also said he made the tip because he was mad and was not happy with his life, the filing stated.

He then told the law enforcement officers that he didn’t know how to get a bomb or make one, according to the filing. A breath test revealed Lagasse had been drinking alcohol in violation of his court-ordered conditions of release stemming from an earlier state charge he had been facing, the filing stated. The exact state charge he had earlier been facing was not included in the filing.

Ultimately, according to the filing, the state cases against Lagasse were transferred from adult court to family court where “records regarding any dispositions remain confidential.” It was not clear from the filing what prompted the move of the state cases to family court.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont man faces federal charge of threatening to kill the president.