A nurse has pleaded guilty to six counts of making threats against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Niviane Petit Phelps, 39, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to a six-count indictment, charging her with making threats against VP Harris, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
She admitted during a plea hearing in district court in Florida that she sent her husband, who was in prison, a 30-second video of herself threatening to kill Harris in February.
Niviane, a mother of three living in Miami Gardens, sent the clips to her husband via JPay, an app used by inmates to communicate with loved ones, the Washington Post reported.
“Kamala Harris you are going to die,” Phelps said in the video. “Your days are numbered already.”
“The videos show Phelps making the threats, screaming curse words, saying that she had accepted $53,000, to carry out the “hit” against Vice President Harris, and explaining that she would carry out the assassination within 50 days,” a statement reads.
“Some of the video clips she recorded herself; others, she had her children record. After sending these videos, Phelps sent a photograph of herself holding a firearm with a target sheet at a gun range.”
Then, two days later, “Phelps applied for a concealed weapon permit,” the statement explains.
On March 6, a Secret Service agent went to speak with Phelps at her home and she said she was “angry” about Harris becoming Vice President, but added that she is “over it now.”
Niviane, who is black, told investigators she made the threats because VP Harris, who was born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, wasn’t “actually black” and she believes that the vice president placed her hand on her purse rather than a Bible on Inauguration Day, according to the complaint.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, “Phelps also admitted to telling law enforcement officers who handled this case, that if they had not come to her house, she “doesn’t know” what would have happened.”
Scott Saul, Phelps’ attorney told NBC News that she never intended to actually carry out the slaying.
“(She) was just venting as she was going through a tumultuous time in her life,” noting that Niviane’s threats were “limited to discussions with her incarcerated husband.”
Saul shared that “it has been important for Ms Phelps to demonstrate her acceptance of responsibility as she begins to atone for her aberrant actions.”
“Ms Phelps has led an honorable life until this incident,” he said. “Ms. Phelps has pled guilty, but she plans on demonstrating significant mitigating circumstances.”
The mom-of-three faces up to five years in prison when she’s sentenced on November 19, but Scott said he will seek a sentence that doesn’t involve prison time.
Heroeia Petit, Niviane’s mother, said she hoped that the charges would be dropped, saying her daughter was “sick” and didn’t understand her actions.
“Don’t punish her … ’cause she listened to what people tell her,” Heroeia said. “She’s desperate, she don’t got nothing to do.”
Since the charges were filed in April, Niviane was suspended from her job without pay from Jackson Health System, where she’s worked for 20 years.
A Jackson Health System spokesperson said that Phelps would be terminated.
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