Kansas man arrested for alleged threats to kill Ben Shapiro and President Trump
On July 13, 2024, President Donald J. Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then, the threats and attacks on conservative activists, media personalities, and Trump himself have only escalated.
There have been three other incidents in which armed gunmen have gotten close to the president or his properties. In September 2024, Ryan Routh hid in the bushes outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach with the intent to shoot the president. In February 2026, an armed man was shot and killed after crossing a security perimeter at Mar-a-Lago. And in April, a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
'I’ll kill you also Donald Trump.'
Then a gunman assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk during an appearance at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
In addition to these active threats and shootings, the Department of Justice has opened prosecutions in dozens of cases of individuals making online threats against politicians, including nearly 20 for threats against President Trump, since January 2025.
Those online threats against conservatives continue. Just this week, Jerusalem News Syndicate first made public the case of a Kansas man alleged to have made specific death threats against President Trump and conservative podcaster and Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro.
Kansas Highway Patrol arrested Korby Aaren Strube, a 29-year-old resident of Horton, Kansas, last week, according to a Brown County sheriff's employee with knowledge of the situation. He was taken into custody on a warrant from Palm Beach County, Florida. The warrant was for alleged threats Strube made against Shapiro, a resident of Palm Beach County, according to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Blaze News.
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The affidavit describes an investigation into the matter that began on August 4 after a security firm that provides protection to Shapiro alerted the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office to a series of threats posted on X on August 1 by a user named “Kory” with the handle @Ksqcrzk. X has since suspended the account.
The affidavit goes on to quote the since-deleted alleged posts, which included threats like, “I’m going to kill ben [redacted] and he’s not going to be a-live.” In other alleged posts, the user cited anti-Semitism as the reason the user wanted to kill Shapiro and gave a countdown that culminated on the feast of Yom Kippur.
The threats against Shapiro also included threats against President Trump and former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. According to the affidavit, the poster wrote, “I’m still killing [redacted] and I don’t expect to get away with that … I’ll kill you also Donald Trump.”
During the course of the investigation, the affidavit claims, a forensic analysis of the digital trail for the posts — including information gained from X Corp., Google, and Starlink through a series of requests and warrants — tied the accounts to Strube.
The affidavit also describes the first meeting law enforcement had with Strube in Kansas, when a Brown County undersheriff and Secret Service special agent went to Strube’s residence in connection with the alleged threats made against the president.
The affidavit states that a consensual interview with Strube took place at the dining room table of his residence with his parents present. It further claims that during this interview, Strube admitted to posting the threats against Trump and the Obamas.
The defendant also claimed during that interview that his accounts had been hacked, the affidavit says.
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In addition to Shapiro, Trump, and the Obamas, the affidavit claims another account allegedly controlled by Strube continued the countdown toward Yom Kippur with threats against other unnamed individuals. X has also suspended that account.
When contacted by Blaze News with the allegations in the affidavit, a Secret Service spokesman said, "We are aware of the threats made in this case but do not comment on matters of protective intelligence.”
"It’s no secret that threats against Ben have increased over the past several years, requiring security to be ramped up,” a spokesman for the Daily Wire told Blaze News. “It’s an unfortunate reality of the current state of American politics. We are grateful for everyone involved in keeping Ben safe and ensuring justice is served.”
Inquiries to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, Brown County Sheriff’s Office, and the Kansas Highway Patrol to determine whether Strube has been extradited to Florida have not been answered as of publication of this article.
The White House and Department of Justice have not responded to requests for comment.
Blaze News attempted to reach the defendant via two email addresses outlined in the affidavit, but no response has been received.
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