A pardoned Capitol rioter was arrested final weekend for allegedly threatening to kill Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries.
Courtroom paperwork obtained by CBS Information mentioned Christopher Moynihan was arrested Sunday after saying in textual content messages that he deliberate to “remove” Jeffries when the highest Home Democrat spoke at an occasion in New York Metropolis on Monday.
Jeffries spoke on the Financial Membership of New York on Monday.
In accordance with a courtroom submitting by prosecutors within the New York state prison case, Moynihan wrote, “Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a number of days in NYC I can’t enable this terrorist to dwell.”
Moynihan additionally allegedly acknowledged: “Even when I’m hated, he should be eradicated, I’ll kill him for the longer term,” the submitting mentioned.
Moynihan faces a felony cost of creating a terroristic menace, in keeping with courtroom filings shared by prosecutors.
Moynihan’s father declined to touch upon the case when reached by telephone by CBS Information on Monday. He mentioned Moynihan has not but been appointed a protection lawyer.
Moynihan is scheduled to make his first court appearance within the case on Thursday in Dutchess County, New York.
Moynihan was pardoned by President Trump 9 months in the past, together with greater than 1,500 different Capitol riot defendants who have been granted clemency hours after Mr. Trump returned to the White Home.
Moynihan was found guilty in August 2022 of obstructing an official continuing, and pleaded responsible to 5 misdemeanor costs. He was sentenced in February 2023 to 21 months in jail.
Prosecutors described Moynihan as being among the many first rioters to breach police barricades and enter the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.
Moynihan was additionally amongst a smaller group of riot defendants who have been on the Senate flooring through the siege. Prosecutors argued in Moynihan’s sentencing memorandum: “Whereas inside, Moynihan rifled by a pocket book on prime of a Senator’s desk, saying ‘There’s gotta be one thing in right here we are able to f*cking use towards these scumbags.'”
Prosecutors mentioned Moynihan “occupied the dais of the Senate, becoming a member of different rioters in shouts and chanting,” and did not go away the chamber till police made him go away.
Moynihan’s arrest for allegedly threatening Jeffries was made by New York State Police, in keeping with an announcement by the company that was confirmed by a state official. The investigation was initiated by the FBI, in keeping with state police.
A state police assertion said Moynihan was arraigned in native courtroom in Clinton, a city in New York’s Hudson Valley area. He was remanded to the Dutchess County Justice and Transition Middle “in lieu of $10,000 money bail, a $30,000 bond, or an $80,000 partially secured bond.”
State police declined a request to right away launch a duplicate of the company’s incident report or a reserving picture.
Moynihan is just not the primary pardoned Capitol rioter to be arrested on new, separate costs. However he’s the primary to be charged with making a violent menace towards a member of Congress.
Critics of the president’s blanket pardons of Jan. 6 defendants have warned concerning the threat of recidivism by rioters, a lot of whom remained defiant and unapologetic about their roles within the assault. The rioters have been defended and lionized publicly as “hostages” by Mr. Trump.
In a March 2025 flooring speech, Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of Senate Democratic management from Illinois, listed the names of accused rioters who had been arrested once more. Durbin cited the case of Matthew Huttle, who was accused of “elevating a firearm at police” in early 2025 and “acknowledged he was a January sixth defendant who stormed the Capitol,” in keeping with Durbin. Huttle was fatally shot by police through the visitors cease.
Zachary Alam, who was convicted of eight felonies for his position within the Capitol riot, was arrested weeks after his 2025 presidential pardon for allegedly breaking and getting into a house close to Richmond, Virginia.
Different Jan. 6 defendants have since been arrested for different alleged prison infractions that occurred earlier than the siege or within the years between 2021 and the pardon.
The alleged menace towards Jeffries can be a part of a fast-growing wave of threats towards legislators. In an announcement final month, Capitol Police mentioned the variety of menace investigations in 2025 had already eclipsed 14,000, greater than the variety of instances in all of 2024.
The Capitol riot injured greater than 140 police officers and brought about tens of millions of {dollars} of harm to the Capitol complicated. It interrupted the certification of the electoral vote from the 2020 election and triggered the evacuation of Congress, with management despatched to a safe, secret location.
Some rioters chanted to hold then-Vice President Mike Pence, threatened to kill then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and beat law enforcement officials with dozens of makeshift weapons, together with bats, sticks, poles, bear spray and beams. Some have been accused of carrying weapons, knives and handmade weapons.
