MIAMI (WSVN) - A nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital has been placed in federal custody after she allegedly recorded videos making threats to Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to the arrest affidavit, 39-year-old Niviane Petit Phelps, a Miami Gardens resident, has been charged in federal court with making threats to kill Harris.
Niviane Petit Phelps, 39, is accused of plotting to kill VP Kamala Harris. She’s a 20-yr nurse at Jackson Hospital but is in federal lockup now, after officials say she made repeated assassination threats in videos made for her husband who is in prison. @wsvn @SecretService pic.twitter.com/mCRHwVDIwH
— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) April 17, 2021
Secret Service investigators said Petit Phelps recorded the threats in a series of videos that she sent to her husband, who is currently serving time in prison.
According to officials, in one of the videos, Petit Phelps said, “Kamala Harris, you are going to die. Your days are numbered already. Someone paid me $53,000 just to [expletive] you up.”
Federal authorities said Petit Phelps’ threats were so serious that she practiced at a gun range and applied for a concealed weapons permit.
A now suspended @JacksonHealth nurse is accused of threatening to kill Vice President Kamala Harris, getting a concealed carry permit & practicing at the range for this crime. The Secret Service arrested her Thursday. Here is some of the criminal complaint. @wsvn pic.twitter.com/7ClXcQ15Lp
— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) April 16, 2021
In another video, officials said, Petit Phelps said, “l’m going to the gun range, just for your [expletive], until you [expletive] leave the chair.”
Speaking with 7News on Friday, Petit Phelps’ mother, Heroeia Petit, apologized to the president and vice president.
“I’m sorry Kamala. Joe Biden, you’re my father,” she said.
Petit said her daughter is a mother of three, and without her income, life is miserable.
“I cry, cry, cry, cry, cry,” she said. “No food in this house, no life.”
Petit blames her daughter’s alleged vitriol toward Harris on Trump conspiracy theorists and insurrectionists.
“Trump supporters tell her what to do, and then she’s desperate,” she said.
Investigators said Petit Phelps is also seen “holding a pistol next to a target containing bullet holes, and she is smiling.”
“She’s not going out in social media. She’s not on a street corner spewing hate,” said Scott Saul, her defense attorney.
Saul said the violent threats his client accused of having made were within a private conversation with her husband and are not to be considered credible threats.
“She’s never gone to Washington, D.C. She’s never done anything but open her mouth,” he said. “People say stupid things all the time.”
The arrest affidavit further states that, based on interviews with investigators, Petit Phelps “believes Kamala Harris is not actually ‘Black’ and how during inauguration, Kamala Harris disrespectfully put her hand on her clutch instead of the Bible.”
A spokesperson for Jackson Health System released a statement that reads, “Niviane Petit Phelps had been employed at Jackson Health System since 2001. In the last couple of years, she worked as a licensed practical nurse at the Ambulatory Care Center West at Jackson Memorial Medical Center. She has been suspended without pay while we process her employment termination.”
In Facebook posts from several days ago, Petit Phelps appeared to apologize for her threats and admitted to what she said about Harris in the videos.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.