A New York man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to murder Minnesota Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Reuters cited the US Department of Justice as saying.
The DoJ said that the US Capitol Police had launched a probe into the incident, which was being coordinated with the FBI.
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On 21 March, 55-year-old Patrick Carlineo reportedly spoke by telephone with one of Omar’s staff members and said, “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".
If convicted, Carlineo faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is being held pending a detention hearing, scheduled for 10 April.
Earlier, he told investigators that he was a patriot and “loves the President”, but that he hates “radical Muslims” in the US government.
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This comes after Democratic representative Omar said that US Muslims should “raise hell” and “make people uncomfortable”. Omar did not elaborate on what she meant by "raising hell". She gave the speech at a fundraiser hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Greater Los Angeles in California in late March.
Earlier, Omar apologised “unequivocally” after she came under fire for arguing that the powerful Israeli lobby uses money to influence US politicians — remarks that were condemned as anti-Semitic and caused tensions between those opposed to Omar and her supporters.
