When presidents hand out pardons like participation trophies, accountability doesn’t disappear, but mutates. This week, one of Donald Trump‘s forgiven goons reminded America that immunity breeds audacity.
One of the pardoned Jan. 6 rioters, 34-year-old Christopher P. Moynihan from Clinton, New York, was arrested on Oct. 19 by New York State Police after sending a series of text messages on Oct. 17 threatening to kill the Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. According to prosecutors, the threats targeted Jeffries’ appearance at the Economic Club of New York on Oct. 20, 2025.
In one of the intercepted messages, Moynihan allegedly wrote, “Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC, I cannot allow this terrorist to live.” Another read, “Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated. I will kill him for the future.” (via NY Times) The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force intercepted the messages, leading to Moynihan’s arrest and a Class D felony charge of making a terroristic threat, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
This case marks the first known instance of a Trump-pardoned Jan. 6 defendant being charged with threatening a member of Congress. It follows Trump’s blanket pardons for more than 1,500 Capitol riot participants in January, a wave of clemency so sweeping that at least ten of those recipients have since faced new criminal allegations ranging from assault to weapons possession. Moynihan, apparently, decided to add domestic terrorism to the résumé.
The news quickly made it to social media, and outrage and dark humor from users collided. One user asked pointedly to Pam Bondi, “Will you have a big press conference about how one of the men Trump freed is now allegedly issuing terrorist threats against the senior-most Dems?” Another wrote, “This is exactly what happens when impunity becomes policy. You pardon insurrectionists; they come back emboldened. You normalize violence, it metastasizes.”
A third quipped, “Trump will probably give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” which doesn’t seem too far-fetched. But this is more than news. It’s a warning about what happens when political violence becomes part of the governing culture. Moynihan’s texts weren’t just threats; they were a symptom of the MAGA movement that confuses vengeance for patriotism and pardons for permission.
For now, Moynihan remains in custody and is scheduled for an appearance on Thursday, Oct. 23. But the common opinion remains that “New York absolutely should bring charges, not just to protect Jeffries, but to send a message,” as put by an X user.
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