Trump-pardoned Jan. 6 rioter arrested over alleged threat to kill Hakeem Jeffries
A New York man pardoned for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was arrested on Sunday after allegedly threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., according to court filings cited by CBS News.
New York Police said Christopher Moynihan, 34, was charged with making a terroristic threat, a Class D felony, following an FBI tip about messages discussing the killing of a member of Congress. He was taken into custody one day before Jeffries’ scheduled speech at the Economic Club of New York.
FBI tip sparked arrest
An anonymous tip to the FBI led to the issuance of a temporary extreme risk protection order (ERPO) in Dutchess County Supreme Court. The order claimed Moynihan made statements about assassinating Jeffries, saying he would kill him in New York City for “the future.”
A hearing on the order is set for Wednesday in Poughkeepsie. The ERPO directs Moynihan to surrender all firearms and authorizes police to seize weapons found during a lawful search.
According to the state of New York, the order itself carries no criminal charges or penalties.
Violent message detailed
According to CBS News, in text messages quoted in a criminal court filing after his arrest, Moynihan wrote, “Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” adding in a separate message, “Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future.”
Moynihan was arraigned in the town of Clinton court and ordered held on $10,000 cash bail, a $30,000 bond, or an $80,000 partially secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in criminal court on Thursday.
Who the suspect is and his Jan. 6 record
Moynihan was pardoned nine months ago by President Donald Trump, part of a mass clemency for more than 1,500 Capitol riot defendants. According to an ERPO background report, he was “fully pardoned by President Trump 1/20/25 for his role in the Capitol Riots.”
He had been found guilty in August 2022 of obstructing an official proceeding and pleaded guilty to five misdemeanors; he received a 21-month prison sentence in February 2023.
Prosecutors said Moynihan was among the first to breach police barricades, where he entered the Senate chamber, rifled through a notebook on a senator’s desk and “occupied the dais of the Senate,” according to court records cited by CBS News.
Why it matters
CBS News reported that Moynihan is the first pardoned Jan. 6 defendant charged with making a violent threat against a member of Congress, amid what Capitol Police described last month as a rapid rise in threat investigations this year – already topping 14,000 cases in 2025.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
