New York man charged for making threats over the phone to assault and kill Rep. Ilhan Omar

Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite

A New York man was arrested and charged Friday with threatening to assault and murder Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, according to authorities.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York said in a statement that 55-year-old Patrick W. Carlineo, Jr. made the threats in a March 21 phone call to her office.
Carlineo told a staffer that Omar, who is one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress is a "terrorist."
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A New York man was arrested and charged with threatening to assault and murder Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.

Authorities said in a statement that 55-year-old Patrick W. Carlineo, Jr. is facing a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both in connection with a complaint that said he made death threats in a March 21 phone call to her office.

"Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood?" Carlineo said to a staffer over the phone, according to a press release. "Why are you working for her, she’s a (expletive) terrorist. I’ll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull."

The FBI reportedly said in a complaint that Carlineo sounded angry during the call but "spelled his name correctly and provided contact information" to a staffer.

Carlineo appeared before a US magistrate judge Friday and is being held ahead of a detention hearing next Wednesday, according to New York’s Elmira Star Gazette.

Omar first gained attention when she became one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress after a victory in the November 2018 midterm elections.

She came into the center of controversy after she accused pro-Israel lawmakers of having an "allegiance to a foreign country" in a tweet last month, earning sharp reactions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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