A man pardoned by President Donald Trump for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested last week for allegedly threatening to kill House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Christopher Moynihan, who was among a small group of Jan. 6 rioters convicted for breaching the Senate floor and rifling through senators’ desks, was arrested by New York State Police after a “thorough investigation,” which authorities say began with an anonymous tip to the FBI.
Court records reflect that the FBI’s tipster told the bureau that on Oct. 17, Moynihan “made statements regarding the assassination of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries” and that he planned to carry out the attack “in a few days,” while the Democratic House leader was in New York. The person told the FBI that Moynihan described the motivation for the plot as “the future” and voiced concern that the man given clemency by Trump had been abusing drugs and expressing increasing “homicidal ideations.”
Investigators also indicated they had reason to believe Moynihan owned or had access to a firearm. Moynihan’s Oct. 19 arrest was first reported by CBS News. He faces a charge of making a terroristic threat against a member of Congress. Jeffries praised state and federal authorities for apprehending Moynihan and lamented Trump’s blanket pardon.
“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 said in a statement.
Moynihan was part of a group of Trump supporters who entered the Capitol early Jan. 6, reaching the Senate chamber just minutes after lawmakers evacuated. Charging documents from that case say Moynihan could be seen on video reviewing papers on senators’ desks and saying, “There’s got to be something we can use against these fucking scumbags.” He then stood on the Senate dais — where then-Vice President Mike Pence had stood just minutes earlier — alongside “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley and others who formed the early vanguard of the Jan. 6 mob.
Moynihan was convicted in 2022 at a bench trial by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who later sentenced him to 21 months in prison for obstructing Congress’ proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cooper released him from prison a year into his sentence after the Supreme Court agreed to review questions about the way obstruction charges had been applied to those who attacked the Capitol. In reaching the decision,Cooper emphasized that he believed Moynihan “would not present a danger to the community” upon release.
After Trump’s inauguration, Moynihan’s case was dismissed altogether, following Trump’s grant of clemency to those who participated in the Jan. 6 riot.
Moynihan is one of a growing list of Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with, convicted of, or sentenced for other crimes since Trump ended the nationwide manhunt. One of them, Edward Kelley, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for attempting to carry out an assassination plot against law enforcement officials who investigated him over his role in the riot.
Others have faced burglary, possession of child pornography or firearms-related charges. But Moynihan is the first Jan. 6 defendant accused of explicitly targeting a member of Congress for violence after Trump’s pardon.
Moynihan‘s arrest is also notable because it arrives in the midst of a national debate over political violence, particularly in the wake of the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Trump and his allies have repeatedly ascribed political violence exclusively to left-wing extremists, and the president has worked in recent weeks to push conspiracy theories that the Jan. 6 attack was instigated by the FBI or other government actors, rather than supporters who believed that the 2020 election was stolen.
Asked about the threat against Jeffries, Speaker Mike Johnson called it “terrible”
“Anybody who threatens to kill any political official, we denounce it absolutely,” Johnson told reporters. “Gotta have justice fall upon their head … I will say that anybody, anybody who threatens political violence against elected officials or anyone else, should be having [the] full weight and measure of Department of Justice on their head. I trust that will happen. I hope it will.”
But he nevertheless reiterated the claim that “the violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right.”
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
