Oct. 21 (UPI) — A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump was again arrested following an alleged threat to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Christopher P. Moynihan, 34, was arrested over the weekend by New York State Police after he allegedly sent text messages on Friday to an unidentified associate in which he threatened the life of Jeffries, D-N.Y.
“Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan was quoted in a legal complaint filed by prosecutors in Duchess County.
Jeffries, 55, gave remarks Monday in Manhattan at the Economic Club of New York.
On Sunday, Moynihan was charged with a class D felony of making a terroristic threat.
“Even if I am hated he must be eliminated. I will kill (Jeffries) for the future,” he wrote.
Moynihan was arraigned in Clinton, a Hudson Valley town some 50 miles east of Syracuse, and remanded to a Duchess County facility “in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, a $30,000 bond, or an $80,000 partially secured bond,” according to state police.
He pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges and declared guilty in August 2022 of obstructing an official government proceeding on Jan. 6, 2021 after Trump’s false declaration that he won the 2020 election.
The Jan. 6 insurrection injured more than 140 Capitol police officers and caused damage to the historic complex to the tune of millions of dollars and delayed 2020’s electoral college count in Congress.
Moynihan, said to be among the first to breach Capitol police barricades to enter the building, is one in a string of Trump-pardoned convicted criminals to later be re-arrested on newer charges.
According to court records, Moynihan has a long history of drug use and petty crimes.
In February 2022, Moynihan was sentenced 21 months in jail until pardoned by Trump along with nearly 1,600 Capitol rioters almost immediately after Trump reassumed office.
Moynihan’s investigation was initiated via the FBI part of a growing trend of threats against U.S. lawmakers.
Meanwhile, U.S. Capitol Police said last month the number of threat investigations this year rose past 14,000, which was higher than the total number of cases in 2024.