NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
This story is part of Fox News Digital’s investigative series Campus Radicals. Get the full series here.
The man who has been charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump after being fired from his job as a university teaching assistant for flipping a Turning Point USA table on campus ignored warnings from federal law enforcement about his violent social media posts, according to an FBI affidavit.
On Oct. 9, eight days before he was arrested for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property after a viral video showed him flipping a Turning Point USA table on the Illinois State University campus, Derek Lopez, 27, was interviewed by federal agents over his online posts.
“Multiple times during the interview, agents advised Lopez on the differences between First Amendment protected speech and making threatening communications online and what people may perceive as being threatened,” the affidavit says.
Derek Lopez was fired from his teaching assistant role at Illinois State University after flipping a Turning Point USA table on campus. (Credit: X/@FrontlinesTPUSA)
The university fired Lopez from his teaching assistant job on Oct. 20.
ILLINOIS STATE TEACHING ASSISTANT FIRED AFTER TRYING TO FLIP TPUSA TABLE TWICE IN VIRAL CLASH
The affidavit details disturbing social media posts following the Oct. 9 interview.
A video on Instagram from Oct. 26 under the account @Derek200p, which the FBI says belongs to Lopez, showed an unknown male cocking a pistol and walking down a street. The unknown male then points the gun, and an image of Trump wearing a crown with red crosshairs on his forehead pops up. That post was still live on the Instagram page at the time of this writing.
According to the FBI, an Oct. 27 X post from the account @Derek200pz, Lopez said “I’m gonna kill Donald Trump, idgaf.” That post is also still live on Lopez’s account.
UNIVERSITY FIRES TURNING POINT USA TABLE FLIPPER FROM TEACHING ASSISTANT ROLE AFTER CAMPUS OUTBURST
FBI Director Kash Patel with FBI agents in Washington, D.C. on August 11 outside the Park Police Station, the command center for the Trump administration’s new crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital. (Courtesy: FBI, exclusively provided to Fox News Digital)
Lopez also commented on a post that appeared to memorialize Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on the Utah Valley University campus on Sept. 10, claiming he killed Kirk.
“Cry harder,” the comment said. “Every day, hundreds of frail little kids in palestine [sic] die. Charlie Kirk spoke out, not to END their suffering but IN FAVOR of it. That was his free speech. My free speech is this: I Derek S Lopez, killed him. I killed Charlie Kirk.”
He also made an Instagram post with an image that said “I stand with (punching) ICE (in the face),” according to the affidavit.
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHER’S ASSISTANT FLIPS TURNING POINT USA TABLE, TEARS DOWN FLYERS: ‘JESUS DID IT’
The affidavit also included a summary of an interview with Lopez conducted by the Illinois State University police on Oct. 15.
Illinois State University Police arrested Lopez after the table flipping incident. (Illinois State University Police)
In that interview, Lopez opined about “Nazis” and “fascists” in the White House.
“He explained he posted on social media about how he wanted to kill Nazis. He said it feels like Nazism and Fascism is on the rise,” according to the affidavit. “He stated he doesn’t want to kill people but his honest opinion some powerful people should be killed.”
“Now with Nazis and Facists [sic] in the White House, he says it feels bad to say ‘I hope those people get killed by someone,'” the affidavit says. “He says when he posts he’s not very clear that he doesn’t want to kill them himself, but if it ‘scares’ people to be less of a Nazi or Fascist then it is okay.”
Patel told Fox News Digital in a statement Thursday that Lopez’s arrest should serve as a warning.
Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), speaks during a swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21, 2025. (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The threats against President Trump allegedly posted by this individual are heinous and have no place in American society,” he told Fox News Digital. “Let this be a message to all who consider threats of violence not just against public officials, but any American, that this FBI will find you and bring you to justice. I want to thank our local partners, the El Paso PD in Illinois, as well as USSS who assisted us with this case.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Lopez’s attorney did not return a request for comment.
Illinois State University did not return a request for comment.