Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Charged Over Jeffries Threat

Christopher Moynihan, 34, pardoned by President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, was arrested and charged with a felony for making a terroristic threat against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries after allegedly sending texts saying he would “eliminate” or “kill” Jeffries ahead of a scheduled New York speech. Court documents quote Moynihan’s messages — “Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live…Even if I am hated he must be eliminated…I will kill him for the future” — which prosecutors say placed the recipient in reasonable fear of imminent assassination. The FBI alerted New York State Police, who arrested Moynihan, arraigned him in Town of Clinton Court and are holding him in the Dutchess County jail with cash bail and bond options; he is due back in Dutchess County court later this week. Moynihan had pleaded guilty to obstruction and several misdemeanors, was convicted of one felony count in the Jan. 6 cases, served about 12 of a 21-month sentence, and was among roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants pardoned by President Trump on Jan. 20, 2025. Jeffries called the arrest “the most recent credible death threat against me” and criticized the blanket pardons, and authorities said the case is the first reported prosecution of a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant for threatening a member of Congress amid a broader surge in threats against lawmakers.