MaddowBlog-Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter charged with threatening Hakeem Jeffries, adding to pattern

[LetMyPeopleVote]

With his Jan. 6 pardons, the president let a bunch of criminals back out onto American streets. Quite a few of them have ended up in legal trouble again.

When Trump pardoned Jan. 6 rioters, he let a whole lot of criminals back out onto American streets.

Quite a few of them got arrested again — including one who threatened to assassinate Hakeem Jeffries. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-10-21T15:57:34.099Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/pardoned-jan-6-rioter-charged-threatening-hakeem-jeffries-adding-patte-rcna238891

Donald Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters were wildly unpopular and controversial for a great many reasons, including a straightforward, practical consideration: The president let a bunch of criminals, including felons convicted of violent crimes, back out onto American streets.

Those concerned about these individuals committing other crimes were right to worry. The New York Times reported:

An upstate New York man pardoned by President Trump after taking part in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was charged last week with a new crime: threatening to assassinate Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, at an event in New York City. The man, Christopher P. Moynihan, 34, sent text messages to an unknown associate on Friday threatening Mr. Jeffries’s life, according to a criminal complaint issued by local prosecutors in Dutchess County, N.Y.

According to the evidence presented by local prosecutors, the man texted, in reference to the House minority leader, “I cannot allow this terrorist to live. Even if I am hated he must be eliminated. I will kill him for the future.”

The man who wrote the text was among the first group of rioters to break into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and was later sentenced to 21 months in prison. Moynihan did not, however, serve his full term behind bars — because he was among the rioters the president pardoned......

According to the evidence presented by local prosecutors, the man texted, in reference to the House minority leader, “I cannot allow this terrorist to live. Even if I am hated he must be eliminated. I will kill him for the future.”

The man who wrote the text was among the first group of rioters to break into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and was later sentenced to 21 months in prison. Moynihan did not, however, serve his full term behind bars — because he was among the rioters the president pardoned.