A 55-year-old New York man has been arrested and charged with threatening to murder Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, a freshman U.S. Congress member from Minnesota who is a Muslim, federal prosecutors said.
Here is more from the New York Post:
An upstate man has been charged with threatening to kill Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar — calling her a “terrorist” during an expletive-laced phone call to the lawmaker’s Washington, DC, office.
Addison, NY, resident Patrick Carlineo, 55, allegedly made the phone threat on March 21, asking an Omar staffer, “Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood?,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“Why are you working for her, she’s a (expletive). I’ll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull,” Carlineo railed on, according to the release.
Carlineo conveniently took the time to give the staffer his name and contact information.
After the call, Omar’s office alerted US Capitol Police, who kicked off a joint investigation with the FBI.
Carlineo, who was charged with threatening to assault and murder a United States official, made his first court appearance Friday.
The freshman congresswoman is among the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress.
Omar has faced heat for anti-Jewish tropes she made earlier this year, saying that support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins” and accusing Jewish-American lawmakers of “dual loyalty.”
Her comments were considered by many as anti-Semitic.
She later issued an apology, saying “Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
