Irmo man who allegedly threatened both Biden and Trump to get mental exams

An Irmo man who allegedly made death threats to both former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will be sent to federal prison for mental examinations.

Travis Lang, 47, who was arraigned in federal court in Columbia onTuesday on the death threat charges, was to be sent for the mental evaluations per order of U.S. Judge Cameron Currie, according to federal court records. The specific prison where Lang will go was not identified.

In her order, Currie said the purpose for both a psychiatric and a psychological examination is to help determine whether Lang is “suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his own defense.”

Currie issued the order for exams after a motion last week by Lang’s lawyers, Jeremy Thompson and Nate Brady of the Federal Public Defender’s office, requested the order.

“Mr. Lang has expressed thoughts on a wide range of topics which have led counsel to believe he is currently ‘unable to ... assist properly in his defense,” Brady and Thompson wrote.

“In particular, Mr. Lang has expressed a belief in a wide-ranging conspiracy involving both high-ranking government officials and individuals in his life, such as his wife, designed to keep him quiet and to prevent him from running for the office of President of the United States. Additionally, Mr. Lang has a prior history of psychiatric treatment.”

Currie also ordered the people who examine Lang to file a full report on their findings.

The government, represented by assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Matthews, did not object to the motion committing Lang for mental evaluation.

A new indictment against Lang alleges that in February he issued a death threat against Trump in a message sent to Lang’s son on Facebook Messenger.

The new indictment also alleges that Lang on his Twitter account in April 2021 threatened the life of then-president Biden, saying, “I am going to kill you given the opportunity.”

A previous indictment in the case mentioned only the alleged threat against Trump.

On Thursday, Lang asked federal Magistrate Judge Thomas Rogers to provide him new lawyers. After a brief closed door session, Rogers declined the request.

According to documents Lang filed in Family Court in Richland County, Lang had a job at the defunct V.C. Summer nuclear plant construction project making more than $100,000 a year.

Lang worked as a nuclear inspector at the project, according to his affidavit, until it was shut down in July 2017 in the midst of ongoing construction delays and cost overruns. Lang was one of thousands thrown out of work on the failed multibillion dollar project. Since then he has been unemployed except for sporadic part-time work for DoorDash.

Lang is under a $25,000 bond and has been in jail since he was first indicted in March. The investigation has been carried out by the U.S. Secret Service South Carolina office.

Lang has also made numerous other threats to public officials, according to evidence in the case.

Lang filed to run for president as a Republican in 2024, according to Federal Election Commission records.

However, he was not a serious candidate in terms of money raised or name recognition. He was not, for example, on the ballot for the South Carolina Republican primary in February 2024 won by Trump.

Lang contributed $6,000 to his 2024 presidential campaign committee and only has $3,506 left, according to the most recent FEC records.

This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 5:30 AM.