Jan. 10 (UPI) — The U.S. Secret Service charged a Queens, N.Y., man on Monday with threatening to kidnap and kill former President Donald Trump.
Thomas Welnicki, 72, of Rockaway Beach, was charged with making threats against the former president and unidentified members of Congress in calls between July 2020 and last month to the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint was unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Monday.
Though the complaint does not name Trump, a law enforcement source confirmed to the Daily News the target was the former president.
In November, Welnicki called the Secret Service’s New York City duty desk from his cellphone and referred to Individual-1 as “Hitler” and stated, “I will do everything I can to make sure [Individual-1] is dead,” the complaint alleged.
On another call the same month, he added “there is a contract out to kill [Individual-1].”
The next month, Welnicki called the same office and said “the new civil war could break out and taking up arms against the government is justified when ballots don’t matter,” adding that he used to own a .22-caliber firearm.
The complaint also listed earlier threats.
In an interview in July, Welnicki told U.S. Capitol Police that “if [Individual-1] loses the 2020 election and refused to step down” he would “acquire weapons,” and “take him down.”
He also bragged that it would be easy to acquire a firearm and added, “I do not want to hurt anyone but I will stand up to fascism.”
Around Jan. 4, 2021, Welnicki called the Secret Service’s Long Island branch and left two voicemails threatening to kill Individual-1 and 12 of his supporters in Congress, the complaint said.
“Mr. Welnicki intended no harm to anyone and posed no actual threat,” his attorney Deirdra Von Dornum told the Daily News. “He was expressing how distraught he was at what he saw as the attempted murder of Lady Liberty.”
The charges carry a fine and/or up to five years in prison.
