A Florida nurse admitted in federal court that she threatened to kill Vice President Kamala Harris in a series of videos sent to her incarcerated husband, authorities said this week.
Niviane Phelps, who told her husband she had accepted $53,000 to carry out the “hit” within 50 days, was arrested after applying for a concealed weapon permit in February, according to prosecutors. The 39-year-old mother of three told the officers who handled the case that if they had not come to her house, she “doesn’t know” what would have happened, authorities said.
Phelps pleaded guilty to a six-count indictment Friday and faces up to five years behind bars when she’s sentenced on Nov. 19.
The 30-second video clips obtained by federal investigators show the Miami resident making threats against Harris and screaming curse words, the Justice Department said in a news release Monday. She recorded some of the videos herself but also had her children record some, according to the release.
The videos were shared with her husband through JPay, an app that allows inmates to communicate with their friends and family.
Phelps also sent a photograph of herself holding a firearm with a target sheet at a gun range just two days before applying for a gun permit, authorities said.
There was no evidence anyone actually paid her any money to assassinate the vice president. Her mother told South Florida news station WTVJ that Phelps is “sick” and “doesn’t even know what she’s doing.”
The former nurse had worked for Jackson Health System for 20 years. She was reportedly fired after the arrest.
