House Speaker Mike Johnson has apparently chosen the silent treatment in response to a threat on the life of one of his colleagues.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Wednesday that he still hadn’t heard from the Republican House leader, days after the wannabe assassin was arrested.
“Has Speaker Johnson reached out to you since a January 6er made a threat on your life?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Jeffries said plainly.
Christopher Moynihan, a 34-year-old from upstate New York, was arrested Saturday for plotting to kill Jeffries at New York City’s Economic Club.
Moynihan was convicted in 2022 for participating in the Capitol riot. Video evidence captured him breaking through fences, entering the Capitol, and rifling through documents in the Senate Gallery. During the riot, Moynihan said, “There’s got to be something in here we can fucking use against these scumbags,” according to court documents. Moynihan was also depicted standing behind the Senate well alongside Jacob Chansley, better known as the QAnon Shaman.
He was sentenced to nearly two years in prison in 2023 but was prematurely released thanks to a blanket pardon from Donald Trump that freed 1,500 January 6 rioters on his first day back in office.
Johnson claimed Tuesday that he was previously unaware of Moynihan’s threats against Jeffries, before he attempted to divert attention away from the right-wing attacker toward the past weekend’s anti-Trump No Kings protests and “violence on the left.”
“The assassination culture that’s been advanced now—this is the left, in almost every case that is advancing this, and not the right,” Johnson told reporters. “Let’s not make this a partisan issue, you don’t want me to go there.”
Jeffries said in a statement Tuesday that “threats of violence will not stop us from showing up, standing up and speaking up for the American people.”
Moynihan sent text messages Friday that spelled out his plans to end Jeffries’s life.
“I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan allegedly wrote, according to a criminal complaint. “Even if I am hated he must be eliminated.… I will kill him for the future.”
The anonymous recipient flagged the messages to authorities, expressing additional concern over Moynihan’s “increased narcotic abuse and homicidal ideations,” reported Axios.
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