NEW YORK — A Queens man has been arrested for making numerous threats to kill former President Donald Trump, federal investigators said Monday.
“I do not want to hurt anyone but I will stand up to fascism,” said the 72-year-old Rockaway Beach resident, Thomas Welnicki, during a voluntary July 2020 interview with law enforcement.
When Welnicki was interviewed by the United States Capitol Police he told them that if Trump lost the election but refused to leave office Welnicki would “acquire weapons” and “take him down,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court Monday.
The complaint does not name Trump, referring to him instead as “Individual 1,” but a law enforcement source confirmed the target was the former president.
“I really hope God takes [Individual 1] out,” Welnicki also said, according to the complaint.
On Jan. 4, 2021, Welnicki called the Secret Service’s Long Island Branch and left voicemails saying he would kill Trump as well as 12 other people who supported the former president, including House members and senators, the complaint says.
“Oh yeah, that’s a threat, come and arrest me,” Welnicki allegedly said in the voicemail. “I will do anything I can to take out [Individual 1] and his 12 monkeys. If I had the opportunity to do it in Manhattan that would be awesome.”
Even after Trump left office, Welnicki’s threats did not abate, the feds said.
“I will do everything I can to make sure [Individual 1] is dead,” Welnicki said in a call to the Secret Service’s New York City Duty Desk on Nov. 8, 2021, during which he repeatedly referred to Trump as “Hitler,” according to prosecutors.
The next day, Welnicki admitted to law enforcement that he made the call to the Secret Service, prosecutors said.
Welnicki was arrested by Secret Service police Monday and will make his first appearance in Brooklyn federal court Monday afternoon. He lives in Rockaway Beach, according to the feds.
“Mr. Welnicki intended no harm to anyone and posed no actual threat,” his attorney Deirdre Von Dornum told the Daily News. “He was expressing how distraught he was at what he saw as the attempted murder of Lady Liberty.”
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