The upstate New York man who was arrested on Friday for allegedly threatening to assassinate Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, phoned her office last month and called her “a fucking terrorist,” according to a criminal complaint released on Saturday.
Patrick W. Carlineo, the complaint alleges, called Omar’s office on March 21 and asked a staffer if they worked for the Muslim Brotherhood, vowing “I’ll put a bullet in her fucking skull” before spelling his name and leaving his contact information including his cell phone number. The call was immediately referred to United States Capitol Police who reached out to the FBI.
When being interviewed by the FBI one week later, the 55-year-old Carlineo was defiant, the complaint states, telling a federal investigator that “if our forefathers were still alive, they’d put a bullet in her head.”
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“Carlineo stated that he was a patriot, that he loves the President, and that he hates radical Muslims in our government,” the complaint reads.
The FBI found that Carlineo possessed two firearms in his Addison, New York home.
Omar has been the target of increasing threats after Fox News host Jeanine Pirro floated the theory that the Minnesota Democrat’s wearing of a hijab might be “indicative” of her loyalty to Islamic religious law over the U.S. Constitution.
“Think about it: Omar wears a hijab,” Pirro stated at the time. “Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”
Fox News later issued a statement declaring that the network “strongly condemns” those comments, which “do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.” The network also briefly suspended the popular news host for the remarks.
Omar has been heavily criticized for remarks she made earlier this year in which she appeared to suggest that some pro-Israel groups “[say] it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
