A Newsweek reporter who covers politics claims that an online user who self-identified as a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump sent him a video clip of a flashing strobe light to intentionally trigger a bout of epilepsy.

Kurt Eichenwald, who is an avowed supporter of Hillary Clinton, tweeted on Thursday that an anonymous user with a Twitter account called @jew_goldstein had sent him a gif of a flashing strobe light attached to the message: ‘You deserve a seizure for that post.’

Soon afterward, a tweet from Eichenwald’s account read: ‘This is his wife, you caused a seizure. I have your information and have called the police to report the assault.’

Eichenwald soon returned to tweeting to announce that he would be taking a hiatus from posting personal comments.

Newsweek political reporter Kurt Eichenwald (left) said on his Twitter account that a 'deplorable' supporter of Donald Trump (right) induced a seizure by sending him a flashing gif

Instead, he would tweet links to police documents about the criminal charges that he is seeking against the user behind the @jew_goldstein account.

The account has since been deleted.

‘Last night, for the second time, a deplorable aware I have epilepsy tweeted a strobe at me with the message “you deserve a seizure” on it,’ Eichenwald tweeted.

'Deplorable' is a reference to the 'basket of deplorables' comment made by Clinton during the campaign to describe a segment of Trump supporters.

‘[I]t worked. This is not going to happen again. My wife is terrified. I am...disgusted. All I will be tweeting for the next few days are copies of documents from the litigation, police reports etc.’

The initial tweet, which was purported to have been posted by his wife, said that Eichenwald suffered a seizure and that it would be reported to the police

‘Once we have the lawsuit filed, we will be subpoenaing Twitter for the identity of the individual who engaged in this cross-state assault,’ Eichenwald tweeted.

‘At this point, the police are attempting to determine if this is a federal crime because it appears to be cross state.’

‘This kind of assault will never happen again without huge consequences.’

‘This individual will be going to court, and he will be paying a price. And if any of you others ever try this again, I will make sure it happens to you.’

On Friday, Eichenwald unleashed a 'tweet storm', writing in a series of posts that he would be pursuing criminal and civil charges in the matter

Eichenwald used the term 'deplorable' to describe the sender of the gif, indicating that this was someone who self-identified as a Trump supporter

'This is not going to happen again,' Eichenwald vowed on Twitter. Eichenwald is known to have views sympathetic to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party

Eichenwald tweeted that his lawyers will also be subpoenaing Twitter for information about the user

Eichenwald tweeted that the crime may be federal since it crossed state boundaries

'This kind of assault will never happen again without huge consequences,' Eichenwald tweeted

'This individual will be going to court, and he will be paying a price,' the reporter vowed

'Online anonymity does not protect criminals. That's why subpoenas exist,' Eichenwald tweeted

Eichenwald warned 'any of you others' to 'consider the consequences' because 'they will be severe'

Eichenwald tweeted that he would not be posting personal comments for the time being

'I'll be back once it is clear from the paperwork I will be tweeting that this is not a joke,' he tweeted

‘Online anonymity does not protect criminals. That’s why subpoenas exist. You are facing a criminal investigation and a lawsuit. So if any of you others think about trying this "cute" prank, consider the consequences. They will be severe.’

‘Again, I will not be seeing your comments or tweeting for a while except to upload copies of litigation and police documents.’

‘Otherwise, I'll be back once it is clear from the paperwork i will be tweeting that this is not a joke. See you soon.’

Flashing images have been used in the past against those diagnosed with epilepsy in order to trigger seizures.

One of the most high-profile instances took place in 2008, when the web site of the Epilepsy Foundation was bombarded by hackers who sent flashing images.

Numerous users reported experiencing severe migraines and near-epileptic seizures as a result of the hack, according to CBS News.