Pardoned Capitol rioter arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Hakeem Jeffries: NPR

A man who was pardoned by President Trump after storming the U.S. Capitol in 2021 has been arrested on charges of threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

New York State Police said Christopher Moynihan was arrested after being informed by the FBI that he had made “death threats against a member of Congress.” Court documents show his arrest came after he allegedly sent a text message saying he planned to kill Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House.

Moynihan, 34, was arraigned in Clinton County Court, New York. He was remanded to the Dutchess County Justice and Transition Center “in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, $30,000 bond or $80,000 partially secured bond.” He is due to appear in court on Thursday.

He faces a criminal charge of making a terrorist threat.

In a statement Tuesday, Jeffries noted that Moynihan was pardoned on Trump’s first day in office.

“Since the general pardon granted earlier this year, many released criminals have committed new crimes across the country,” he said. “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.”

Moynihan was sentenced in 2023 to 21 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release. He was granted a full pardon, along with more than 1,500 other defendants charged with crimes related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

That day, Moynihan can be heard on video captured on the Senate floor saying, “There’s got to be something we can use against these fucking bastards.”

While many people had no criminal records before committing crimes on Jan. 6, NPR identified dozens of defendants with prior convictions for crimes including rape, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, manslaughter, production of child pornography and drug trafficking. That includes Matthew Huttle, who was shot and killed by law enforcement during a traffic stop in Indiana days after receiving a pardon.

Moynihan’s arrest comes amid growing threats against lawmakers. Capitol Police told NPR in a statement in September that its officers were on track to handle about 14,000 threat assessment cases by the end of the year, a dramatic increase from the caseload in previous years.

NPR’s Sam Gringlas reported on this report.