Former LA deputy mayor takes plea deal over fake bomb threat blamed on pro-Palestine protesters

Los Angeles, California - Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Brian Williams has reached a plea agreement after calling in a fake bomb threat to City Hall which was blamed on pro-protesters.

Protesters rally in front of Los Angeles City Hall in support of Palestinians under US-backed Israeli assault. © Katie McTiernan / AFP

Williams (61) agreed to plead guilty to a single count of making an explosives threat. The felony charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

"In an era of heated political rhetoric that has sometimes escalated into violence, we cannot allow public officials to make bomb threats," US Attorney Bill Essayli said in a . "My office will continue its efforts to keep the public safe, including from those who violate their duty to uphold the law."

Essayli's office and the FBI's LA Field Office accuse Williams, LA's former deputy mayor of public safety, of using Google Voice on his phone to call his City-issued cell on October 3, 2024. He then called the LAPD saying he had just received a bomb threat targeting City Hall, though no such threat was made.

Williams texted Mayor Karen Bass and other officials notifying them of the fake threat, prosecutors said.

The message read: "Bomb threat: I received phone call on my city cell at 10:48 AM this morning. The male caller stated that 'he was tired of the city support of Israel, and he has decided to place a bomb in City Hall. It might be in the rotunda.' I immediately contacted the chief of staff of LAPD, they are going to send a number of officers over to do a search of the building and to determine if anyone else received a threat."

LAPD searched City Hall and found no suspicious package or devices.

Williams then sent additional texts to Bass and others reading, "At this time, there is no need for us to evacuate the building, I’m meeting with the threat management officers within the next 10 minutes. In light of the Jewish holidays, we are taking this thread, a little more seriously. I will keep you posted."

The former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety, Brian K. Williams, 61, of Pasadena, was charged today in an information with threatening to bomb Los Angeles City Hall last year, and in a related filing, agreed to plead guilty to the charge. Details: https://t.co/fzZX4XVmCK pic.twitter.com/4N4IzsJxUF

— FBI Los Angeles (@FBILosAngeles) May 23, 2025

Williams' fake call came almost one year after Israel launched its full-scale assault on the people of Gaza. The US' continued support for the atrocities have sparked mass protests as many Americans demand governments and institutions end their complicity in the crimes.