Speaker Mike Johnson refused to condemn President Donald Trump’s blanket pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, even after one man tied to the Capitol attack was arrested for threatening to kill Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
The Louisiana congressman addressed the arrest of Christopher P. Moynihan during a press conference Tuesday, where he danced around calling Trump’s pardon for all rioters a “mistake” and instead suggested his rivals on the left have done more to incite political violence.
“The violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right. Don’t make me go through the list. You all know it,” Johnson said. “The assassination culture that’s been advanced now, this is the left in almost every case that is advancing this and not the right. So, let’s not make it a partisan issue. You don’t want me to go there.”
However, Johnson did make a point to denounce any “deranged individual” who may seek to harm an elected official.
“I will say this, anybody who threatens political violence against elected officials — or anyone else — should have the full weight and measure of the Department of Justice on their head,” Johnson also told reporters. “I trust that will happen. I hope it will. We are intellectually consistent about that obviously.”
Johnson’s remarks come after Moynihan was arrested over the weekend for allegedly sending threatening texts about the House Minority Leader on Friday.
Per a police report, Moynihan was arrested in Clinton, New York after he allegedly discussed Jeffries’ upcoming speaking engagement via text and wrote that the congressman “must be eliminated.” Police say Moynihan also wrote, “I will kill him for the future.”
In a statement following the arrest, Rep. Jeffries thanked the investigators “for their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”
Moynihan has since been charged with a felony count of making a terroristic threat.
He was previously sentenced to 21 months in prison back in February 2023 for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. However, he was among those who were pardoned by Trump during the first day of his second term in office.
