Rep. Jeff Van Drew Accuses New Jersey Columnist of Death Threats

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) on Monday accused a New Jersey columnist of leaving “death threats” on his voicemail, according to a Courier-Post journalist.

Van Drew was joined by Cape May County Sheriff Bob Nolan outside Cape May Courthouse in New Jersey to hold a news conference. They identified the columnist as Ocean City Sentinel’s John McCall, per the report.

The New Jersey Congressman release the transcript of the voicemail at the press conference:

“I would swear to your demise as a politician and I believe that you personally are a degenerate,” the transcript read. “As a member of the New Jersey Press Association, I will do everything in my power to ensure that you are deposed if not dead. Anything I can do to basically get you out of office, I will do. You are a traitor Jeff Van Drew and you deserve the fate of all traitors.”

“Because you felt threatened and felt your wife was threatened, I am sorry,” Nahan said. “There are no two ways about that. I blame that on my judgment. I knew in advance that the guest column was vitriolic and highly critical of you and your support for the former president. The way it was written, I do not believe it contains any threats of harm because if I did, I would not have allowed it to appear in my newspaper.”

NJPA understands that John McCall asserted he is a member of NJPA,” D’Ambrosio said. “John McCall is not and has never been a member of NJPA, as the association does not have individual journalist members..”