A man identified as Patrick W. Carlineo has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar on a phone call with her Congressional office earlier this year, according to a report Tuesday from The Root .
On March 29, 2019 Carlineo reportedly placed a call to Omar’s Washington, D.C. congressional office and asked a member of her staff if they were a member of the Muslim Brotherhood before making the threat against the first-term legislator.
“Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood? Why are you working for her, she’s a (expletive) terrorist. Somebody ought to put a bullet in her skull. Back in the day, our forefathers would have put a bullet in her (expletive),” Carlineo said per The Root. The staff member explicitly said that Carlineo had used this exact language to threaten to kill Omar.
The incident was investigated by U.S. Capitol Police’s Threat Assessment Section and the FBI, per The Root. When interviewed by investigators about a week after the March phone call, Carlineo reportedly told them that he was a supporter of President Trump and “hates radical Muslims,” per a report from The Washington Post . Carlineo then reportedly repeated the claim he had made to Omar’s staffer, telling investigators that he believed the founding fathers of the country themselves would kill Omar.
In a statement, the Department of Justice explained how the incident led to the joint investigation of the call.
Carlineo made the threatening call to retaliate against Congresswoman Omar based on her performance of her official duties. Because he hates individuals he views as radical Muslims being in the United States government, he believed that Congresswoman Omar supports Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and that Congresswoman Omar’s election to the United States Congress was illegitimate.
Additionally, the DOJ noted in its statement that Carlineo — a previously-convicted felon — had in his possession a loaded 45-caliber handgun, three rifles, two shotguns, and a hundred rounds of ammunition at his residence in Addison, New York when they searched his property in April. Due to his felony conviction for criminal mischief in 1998, Carlineo was prohibited from owning any firearms.
Omar has been a frequent target of President Trump since she assumed office at the beginning of this year. Omar is part of a group of progressive first-term legislators known as “The Squad.” In July, the president notably directed members of the group to “go back” to their ancestral countries. Omar came to the country as a refugee when she was a child and is now a U.S. citizen.
Per The Washington Post, Omar has requested compassion in Carlineo’s sentence, arguing in a letter Tuesday that he needed “restorative justice” to understand the consequences of his actions. Carlineo’s conviction carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Carlineo will be sentenced in February, per The Root.
