A rioter concerned within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, who President Donald Trump pardoned earlier this 12 months, faces prison prices once more — this time for allegedly threatening to kill Home Minority Chief US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), New York State Police introduced Tuesday.
REUTERS/Leah Millis/File photograph
A rioter concerned within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, who President Donald Trump pardoned earlier this 12 months, faces prison prices once more — this time for allegedly threatening to kill Home Minority Chief US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), New York State Police introduced Tuesday.
Police charged Christopher Moynihan, 34, of Clinton, on Oct. 18 for making a terroristic menace, a Class D felony. Moynihan was arraigned earlier than the City of Clinton Courtroom, remanded to the Dutchess County Justice and Transition Middle, and is scheduled to look in court docket on Thursday.
The State Police labored with the Bureau of Prison Investigation at Poughkeepsie and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Activity Pressure to research the case and make the arrest.
“Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan allegedly wrote, in response to court docket paperwork obtained by CBS.
In response to court docket paperwork obtained by CBS Information, Moynihan allegedly wrote in textual content messages that he deliberate to “eliminate” Jeffries at an occasion on Monday; the minority chief gave an deal with to the Financial Membership of New York.REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Moynihan was one in all 1,500 beforehand convicted Capitol rioters whom Trump pardoned on his first day again in workplace, Jan. 20, 2025. Moynihan had been sentenced in February 2023 on a felony cost: obstruction of an official continuing. He served 21 months in federal jail.
In the course of the assault on the Capitol, Moynihan was “among rioters who broke through the security perimeter on the east side of the Capitol Building” and invaded the chamber of the US Senate.
In a Tuesday assertion, Jeffries expressed his gratitude to state and federal legislation enforcement for “their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”
“The person arrested, along with thousands of violent felons who stormed the US Capitol during the January 6th attack, was pardoned by Donald Trump on the President’s very first day in office,” Jeffries stated within the assertion. “Since the blanket pardon that occurred earlier this year, many of the criminals released have committed additional crimes throughout the country.”
At the very least 10 pardoned Capitol rioters have been arrested and charged with numerous crimes since Trump took workplace in January, in response to the nonprofit Residents for Duty and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Moynihan, nonetheless, is the primary to be rearrested for threats towards a member of Congress.
“Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries stated within the assertion.
The Jan. 6, 2023, assault on the U.S. Capitol sought to disrupt the election certification course of, confirming then-President-elect Joe Biden because the winner of the 2020 election. For weeks main as much as the riot, Trump had peddled lies that the election had been stolen from him. Instantly previous to the riot, he addressed individuals gathered at a so-called “Stop the Steal” rally, the place he advised the group, “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Moments later, the mob besieged the Capitol — injuring over 140 cops within the course of. A number of the rioters even known as for the murders of then-Vice President Mike Pence and then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
