A New York man has been arrested on charges of threatening to assault and kill U.S. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Patrick W. Carlineo, Jr., 55, of Addison, N.Y., is in custody after allegedly threatening to kill Omar because of her Muslim faith, CNN reports.
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According to CNN and The Hill, a call was placed to Omar’s Washington office on March 21, during which the individual on the other line identified himself as Pat Carlineo. He asked Omar’s receptionist, “Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood? Why are you working for her, she’s a (expletive) terrorist. I’ll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull.”
Omar’s office then referred the call to the police. According to an affidavit, Carlineo provided the correct spelling of his name and his contact information to the receptionist over the call. He was interviewed by authorities, whom he told that he loved Donald Trump, that he was a U.S. patriot and “that he hates radical Muslims in our government.”
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The threat from Carlineo came 10 days after Fox New Host Jeanine Pirro criticized Omar’s choice to wear a hijab. On her Twitter page, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez linked Pirro’s comments and Carlineo’s threats against Omar.
“Understand when Jeanine Pirro goes on Fox + rallies people to think hijabs are threatening, it leads to this. Folks who imply we’re “bad” for politics, the party, the country, etc. have no idea the threats we deal w/ because of that kind of language,” the tweet read.
While Pirro’s comments were widely condemned, the Fox News host found some support. U.S. President Donald Trump later tweeted:
“Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro. The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country. They have all out campaigns against @FoxNews hosts who are doing too well,” his tweet read.
Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, is one of the first two Muslim women serving in Congress after being elected in 2018.
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