Rantz Exclusive: Washington GOP official told police Semi Bird threatened to ‘bury’ him

A State Committeeman from the Pierce County Republican Party (PCRP) reported to police that he was threatened by former gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird. He claimed that during a weekend Washington State Republican Party (WSRP) meeting, Bird allegedly warned him that he’d “bury” him.

“He (Semi) started out calling me a fat mother f****r, said several other things that I can’t remember then as his wife walked out of the restroom he stated I better be f*****g glad his wife was with him or he would bury me,” the PCRP official wrote in a statement to the Wenatchee Police Department obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

The PCRP official told several people what he said transpired, including a Chelan County Republican Party (CCRP) official who exclusively told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that she was the one who called 911. She said he was “really visibly shaken up” when she approached him.

“And so I asked him, ‘Are you okay?’ He goes, ‘No, I was just threatened,'” she recalled. “And he tells me what was said and his exact words were, ‘He said a bunch of cuss words to me. Said something about being a Green Beret and told me … ‘You’re lucky my wife is here, you fat f***, or you’d be buried.”

The CCRP official, who asked to remain anonymous, said she told him that the alleged comment by Semi Bird sounded like a threat.

Bird did not respond to a request for comment. On his X account, responding to a post about the allegation, Bird claimed “My lovely bride and I were attending the WSRP Reception while all of the made-up excitement was happening.” He accused critics of suffering “Bird Derangement Syndrome,” and, in an apparent reference to police being called, asked, “What’s next, a George Floyd incident?”

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Update Aug. 19 6:45 a.m.: Semi Bird’s statement to KIRO Newsradio

Semi Bird subsequently released a statement responding to the claims of threats he made toward Washington GOP officials.

“I had no idea there was any complaint or issue until after it became public on social media,” Bird told KIRO Newsradio in response to the claims. “Speaking of my behavior, I can assure you that everyone in attendance of the meeting on the 17th, and the executive committee meeting and reception on the 16th will tell you that I conducted myself as I always do, with kindness and professional decorum. I have full confidence that the Wenatchee Police Department will bring facts in lieu of speculation and innuendo.

“The prejudice brought against me by the Pierce and Chelan County Republican party leadership is very public,” Bird continued. “That being said, I do not allow the poor behavior of others to lower me to their level. There is too much hate and division in our society, but I have always tried to bring light to that darkness, even when the darkness is being directed towards me.”

What happened before official alleges that Semi Bird threatened him?

In the police statement, the PCRP official alleged the threat came after he made a Friday night motion to prohibit the state party from funding attack ads against fellow Republicans. This was a response to the vitriol between the Bird campaign and his Republican gubernatorial challenger Dave Reichert. Bird was the WSRP-endorsed candidate but lost to Reichert in the primary.

During the debate around the motion, the PCRP official told police that, “Bird stated he thought it was interesting and hypocritical that I would make a motion to not allow any communications coming from the Washington State Republican (Party) allowing one Republican candidate to attack another (R)epublican.” A source with knowledge of the meeting told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that Bird implied the PCRP official had criticized his campaign publicly.

The PCRP official told police that he approached Bird after the debate that he “never publically (sic) attacked you on social media or in public settings.” He said, in the statement, that Bird responded with the threat.

“I took the threat of Semi very seriously as a former Green Beret and Special Forces he’s been trained to be lethal,” the PCRP official wrote in the statement. He also told police that on Saturday morning Bird’s wife rolled her eyes when she overheard him talking about the threat with someone before allegedly saying, “You’re still here aren’t you?”

Is this part of a pattern from Semi Bird?

Aaron Young is chairman of the Chelan County Republican Party. He exclusively told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH he learned of the alleged Semi Bird threat on Friday night. He recalled being told that Bird “got very close to him (PCRP official),” and told him, “If his wife wasn’t with him, he would bury him right here, right now.”

“This was really reminiscent to the conversation I had with Semi Bird last summer when Semi made veiled threats to myself, talking about his military background and his self-defense training and telling me that if I crossed him again, that he would have consequences for me,” Young explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Young said that he called Bird last summer after a member of the county party mistakenly posted on the county party account analysis suggesting Bird couldn’t win statewide office. Young and the county party were not yet endorsing anyone. He did not want to be seen as coming out against Bird because of the opinion of one member. He hoped to apologize to Bird for the post, he explained.

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Semi Bird ‘wanted me to believe it was a physical threat’

During the call, Young said everything was cordial. But that changed when he said Bird asked why his county party wasn’t endorsing his bid for governor.

“He completely changed his tone of voice,” Young said. “He got very aggressive in the way he talked and referred to training and his background. Very, very narcissistic and very aggressive behavior, and told me there would be consequences if it ever happened again.”

Young told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that Bird wasn’t specific to what, specifically, he was referring to about not happening again. But he claimed Bird said the party was “slandering his name, and that if it happened again, there would be consequences.” He said he took it as “carefully chosen words by a person who’s trained in Psyops and tactics for interrogation trying to convey a threat without making one.”

“I don’t know what he would do, but I believe that he wanted me to believe it was a physical threat. I believe his intention was to scare me,” Young explained. “Because you don’t refer to a military background, self-defense training and no problem in defending yourself, right before telling somebody there will be consequences, unless you want them to believe that those might be the consequences.”

Young remembers thinking that the phone call confirmed that the county was right “to not support him” for governor.

What happens next?

It’s unclear how — or if — the WSRP will address the alleged Semi Bird threat.

“Either the Party’s going to step up and show some leadership and address the bad behavior, or it’s going to continue,” Young explained. “Semi Bird is going to continue to ramp up and get more angry and more antagonistic until something blows up or he’s going to fade away and disappear. But there’s no change he stays where he’s at. He has had a pattern of elevating and increasing every month since he hit the trail.”

In a brief statement to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, Walsh said that, “None of us should allow raw emotions to drive our actions. Regret usually follows that.”

Bird is currently the chair of the Benton County Republican Party and member of the WSRP Executive Board. Leading up to his gubernatorial defeat in the primary, party officials said they heard Bird would challenge WSRP chairman Jim Walsh to lead the party. Young has heard the rumors, too.

“I don’t know that they’re true. I mean, I hear them from people supporting him, and I have every reason to believe that because he’s made comments indicating that he thinks there needs to be a change but I haven’t heard that from him,” Young said.

Bird, who has accused Walsh of “undermining” his campaign, denied his intention of seeking to replace the chairman. He compared the “Jason Rantz Show” report on the rumors to “another lie from an individual who propagates in virtual public lynchings.”

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