By Lauren Burke
“Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC. I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” a man named Christopher Moynihan allegedly wrote in text messages regarding House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, according to law enforcement authorities in Dutchess County, New York. President Trump pardoned Moynihan after he was charged for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. Trump granted clemency to over 1,400 defendants charged in relation to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol within hours of his return to the White House.
“Christopher Patrick Moynihan, 32, of Salt Point, New York, was sentenced yesterday to 21 months in prison. Moynihan was found guilty, on August 23, 2022, of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony. He also pleaded guilty to a total of five related misdemeanor charges. In addition to the prison term, Judge Christopher R. Cooper ordered 36 months of supervised release and restitution of $2,000,” read a Department of Justice press release on Feb. 2, 2023. According to the Department of Justice, surveillance cameras, Moynihan, and other individuals entered the U.S. Senate Chamber during the violent attack by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. While in the Senate Chamber, Moynihan paged through a notebook on a Senator’s desk, took pictures with his cellphone, and said, “there’s gotta be something in here we can f—- use against these —-bags.”
Now Moynihan is in the news again. Moynihan is one of several individuals whom Trump pardoned who have been rearrested. “The New York State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigation at Poughkeepsie (BCI), in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task Force (FBI-JTTF), announces the arrest of Christopher Moynihan, 34, of Clinton, New York, for Making a Terroristic Threat, a Class D felony. On October 18, 2025, the State Police were advised by the FBI-JTTF. That Moynihan had made threats to kill a member of Congress,” a press statement by the New York State Police read. “Following a thorough investigation, Moynihan was arrested and arraigned before the Town of Clinton Court. He was remanded to the Dutchess County Justice and Transition Center instead of $10,000 cash bail, a $30,000 bond, or an $80,000 partially secured bond,” the release, posted on the New York State Police website, informed.
Moynihan was pardoned by President Donald Trump in January for his role in the violent January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters. The mob forcibly broke into the U.S. Capitol on the day of the 2020 elections, certifying President Joe Biden as the winner over Trump in November 2020. The certification was delayed after Trump supporters and allies conducted a social media campaign to “stop the steal.” The misinformation around the 2020 elections, along with Trump’s false claims that the election was “stolen,” traveled widely on social media platforms that would later donate millions to Trump’s inaugural events this year.
According to reporting by the BBC, Moynihan allegedly planned to target Leader Jeffries at a speaking event on Oct. 20 at the Economic Club of New York. Moynihan is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Oct. 23. Political violence has been in the news this year as Trump is in the first year of his second term in office. On June 14, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota Democrat, and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed at their home. On June 15, police in Minnesota arrested Vance Boelter, 57, and charged him with the murders.
“Donald Trump spit in the face of law enforcement and public safety when he pardoned dangerous January 6th rioters. He pardoned people who committed violent crimes against police officers – and some went on to commit new crimes after their pardons. Now, one of those individuals stands accused of threatening to murder House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. I will condemn political violence from both the right and the left. It has no place in our country. We must be able to disagree without turning to threats or violence. We are one nation – and we must act like it,” wrote Virginia House Speaker Don Scott in an Oct. 21 statement.
