A man from New York has been arrested and charged with threatening to assault and murder Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) (shown above, beside Nancy Pelosi), according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
In a statement, authorities said that Patrick W. Carlineo Jr., 55, of Addison, New York, is facing a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both in connection with a complaint that said he made death threats to the congresswoman’s office in a March 21 telephone call.
“Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood?” Carlineo said over the phone to a staffer, according to a press release.
“Why are you working for her? She’s a [expletive] terrorist. I’ll put a bullet in her [expletive] skull,” the man said.
The threat was referred to the United States Capitol Police, Threat Assessment Section — which began an investigation into the matter in coordination with the FBI, the release also noted.
The defendant made an initial appearance on Friday afternoon, April 5, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson — and is being held pending a detention hearing on April 10, 2019, the release said.
Omar is the embattled Minnesota Democrat who has faced almost constant scrutiny since her election in the November 2018 midterms. She is one of the first two Muslim women ever to serve in Congress.
She has repeatedly faced criticism for comments about Israel and about U.S. foreign policy. Many have called her out for her use of anti-Semitic tropes.
She fled the Somali Civil War and later came to the United States to seek asylum.
Recently she said it has been a traumatic experience living in Trump’s America for the last couple of years.
Omar also recently slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for daring to call out the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) against Israel as “bigoted” and “dangerous.”
Omar admitted to supporting BDS after her election when her campaign told a site called Muslim Girl, “Ilhan believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized.”
In a speech to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference, Pelosi heavily criticized the movement.
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