Ric Grenell, who served as President Trump’s special missions envoy and previously held the presidency of the Kennedy Center, expressed feeling “shaken” during the sentencing hearing of a man found guilty of sending him a threatening message in December.
In court, Grenell provided a victim impact statement prior to the sentencing of Scott Allen Bolger, a 33-year-old resident of Virginia, who received a 15-month prison term along with three years of supervised release.
On December 23, Grenell answered a phone call from Bolger, during which Bolger called him a “coward.” This was followed by a text sent from a Google Voice account, threatening Grenell with violence: “Step on U Street and get a bullet put between your eyes, loyalist pig skin p****.”
Grenell remarked that the threatening text was not an isolated incident, noting that he received up to 30 calls that evening from an unidentified number. However, federal prosecutors indicated they could not trace these calls back to Bolger. The Google Voice account utilized by Bolger was registered under a fictitious email to avoid detection. After receiving the call in which he was insulted, Grenell reported the incident to the FBI.
During his statement, Grenell acknowledged that, as a gay conservative, he is used to facing criticism from various sides. However, he characterized Bolger’s behavior as “unhinged” and asserted that it crossed a serious line.
Following the hearing, Grenell spoke with CBS News about the unsettling experience of being in close proximity to Bolger in the courtroom. “I was shocked that I was just steps away from someone who wants to kill me,” he noted, adding that he found the 15-month sentence to be appropriate.
In his court statement, Grenell expressed a desire to prevent others from becoming victims like his friend Charlie Kirk. He conveyed his forgiveness towards Bolger but also expressed concern about the potential for Bolger’s release from prison.
Bolger’s attorney mentioned in court that he had a fondness for the Kennedy Center and was “extremely upset” upon learning that the board, with Grenell at the helm, had voted to rename the center to “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” A recent ruling by a judge ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the center and halted plans to close it during renovations.
During the hearing, Bolger offered an apology to Grenell and his family, stating that his actions were indefensible, “no matter how significant politics and the Kennedy Center are to me.”
Grenell further emphasized to CBS News the need to recognize the impact of rhetoric on mentally unstable individuals who might take harmful actions, stating, “I don’t want to silence debate, but we need to acknowledge that some people are interpreting our words in dangerous ways.”
He attributed the rise in political violence to the influence of Democrats and various media outlets, including MS Now, the Daily Beast, and the Huffington Post. “The left’s violence is escalating in this country,” he asserted. “We need to confront this issue.”
A study released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in December highlighted a rise in left-wing terrorism incidents but clarified that this increase comes from a historically low baseline, remaining significantly lower than the levels of violence associated with right-wing and jihadist groups. The research noted that 2025 marked a notable shift, as left-wing terrorist acts surpassed those of violent far-right groups for the first time in over three decades.
