calling for the assassination of the President is against the law

[Robert Naiman]

Reuters, the Washington Post, and AFP reported on statements by former 
Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez -- now a resident of Florida -- in 
an interview with the Venezuelan opposition newspaper El Nacional that the 
referendum would fail and that violence was the only way for the opposition 
to get rid of Ch�vez. Ch�vez should �die like a dog,� Perez said.

My recollection is that calling for the assassination of the President is a 
serious crime in the United States. In fact, my memory is that in one of 
Michael Moore's books he tells the following story. Jesse Helms, when he 
was still in the Senate, was mad at Clinton about something - I think maybe 
it was the assault weapons ban. And Helms made some comment like, Clinton 
had better not come to North Carolina, because it won't be safe for him 
there. And Moore says, what is this? You can't just go around threatening 
the President of the United States, even if you're a Senator, that's a 
serious crime. So he calls up the FBI, and says, what are you doing about 
this? And the guy from the FBI says, we're taking this seriously, as we 
take all threats to the President seriously; we have opened an investigation.

Does anyone remember this, or have any references, or know where the 
relevant law might be in the U.S. code?

--
Robert Naiman
Senior Policy Analyst
Venezuela Information Office
733 15th Street, NW Suite 932
Washington, DC 20005
t. 202-347-8081 x. 605
f. 202-347-8091
www.veninfo.org
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