Vice President Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala HarrisOfficial White House Photo by Adam Schultz

A nurse has been charged with threatening to kill US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Miami Herald reported Friday.

According to the Herald, Niviane Petit Phelps, 39, has been charged in Miami's federal court.

Phelps, who lives in Miami Gardens and is a mother of three, works as a nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The threats were recorded in a series of videos from February, which she sent to her husband in prison along with two photographs. In one video, she said that Harris' days "are numbered," while in another she said, "If I see you in the street, I'm gonna kill your a--, Kamala Harris." In a third, she said she would kill Harris, unless Harris left her position.

According to federal authorities, Phelps also practiced at a gun range and applied for a concealed carry permit.

A Secret Service complaint said that Phelps expressed outrage at the Biden-Harris victory and prior to her arrest this month told a Secret Service agent that Harris "isn't actually Black."

Phelps herself is Black. She was detained Thursday by a Miami federal magistrate judge after being arrested on a charge of making threats against Harris.

According to the Herald, Phelps was caught thanks to the videos and photographs she sent to her husband Joseph, who is serving time in a state prison after being convicted of armed robbery and murder of a grocery store owner in 1996.

Currently, she is being held at Miami's Federal Detention Center, due to the judge's concern that she is a "danger to the community."

On Friday, her defense attorney, Scott Saul, told the Miami Herald that he is still reviewing details of the case, but that federal law requires "a true threat," not "idle talk or a careless remark." He also said that the videos were part of a private conversation between Phelps and her husband.

In a statement emailed to the Herald, Saul wrote: "Based upon my limited knowledge, I do not think my client was a genuine threat to the vice president. All this case involved was my client venting to her incarcerated husband (where the communications were recorded and then forwarded to law enforcement)."

"It appears as though personal issues in her life, along with the volatile political landscape perpetuated by some, brought some frustrations out of her. I do not think that there was ever a realistic or imminent threat upon Vice President Kamala Harris."

If convicted, Phelps would face up to five years behind bars.

Even if she is not convicted a Jackson Health System spokesperson confirmed to the Herald that Phelps will lose her job.