US Capitol rioter pardoned by Trump is accused of threatening to kill Democrat Hakeem Jeffries
A man whose convictions for storming the US Capitol were expunged by President Donald Trump’s mass pardons has been arrested on charges of threatening to kill US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Christopher P. Moynihan is accused of sending a text message Friday saying Jeffries, a New York Democrat, would be giving a speech in New York this week.
“I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan wrote, according to a state police investigator’s report. Moynihan also wrote that Jeffries “needs to be eliminated.”
“I will kill him in the future,” he texted, according to the police report.
Moynihan, of Clinton, New York, is charged with making a terroristic threat. It is unclear whether he has an attorney representing him in the case, and efforts by The Associated Press to contact him and his parents by email and phone were unsuccessful.
Moynihan among hundreds pardoned by Trump
The 34-year-old was sentenced to 21 months in prison for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. In January, he was among hundreds of convicted Capitol rioters who received a pardon from Trump on the Republican president’s first day back at the White House.
Jeffries thanked investigators “for their quick and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention of carrying it out.”
“Unfortunately, our brave law enforcement men and women are forced to spend their time protecting our communities from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries said in a statement.
House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about the case at a news conference Tuesday and said he knew no details of the threat against Jeffries.
“We denounce violence from anyone, at any time. These people should be arrested and tried,” said Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana.
New York State Police said they were informed of the threat by an FBI task force on Saturday. Moynihan was arraigned Sunday in a Dutchess County local court in New York. He is scheduled to return to Clinton Court on Thursday.
Dutchess County Prosecutor Anthony Parisi said his office was reviewing the case “for legal and factual sufficiency.”
“Threats made against elected officials and members of the public will not be tolerated,” Parisi said in a statement Tuesday.
Moynihan’s involvement in the attack of January 6, 2021
On January 6, Moynihan broke through police barricades before entering the Capitol through the Rotunda gate. He entered the Senate chamber, searched a notebook on a senator’s desk and joined other rioters in shouting and chanting on the Senate dais, prosecutors said.
“Moynihan did not leave the Senate chamber until he was removed by the police,” they wrote.
In 2022, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found Moynihan guilty of a felony for obstructing the January 6 joint session of Congress aimed at certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Moynihan also pleaded guilty to five other charges related to the riots.
