NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A New York man upset with what he perceived as Donald Trump's threats to democracy was criminally charged on Monday with threatening to kill the former U.S. president, who he once referred to as Hitler.
Prosecutors said the defendant, Thomas Welnicki, 72, of Rockaway Beach, threatened to do "everything I can" to ensure Trump's death, and once inquired about Secret Service protection for former presidents and their children.
Welnicki was accused in a criminal complaint of discussing Trump's demise in several voluntary communications with U.S. Capitol Police and the Secret Service between July 2020 and December 2021, during and after Trump's presidency.
The case was brought as Trump, a Republican, continues pressing false claims that widespread voting fraud caused him to lose the November 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.
"Mr. Welnicki intended no harm to anyone," his lawyer Deirdre von Dornum, attorney-in-charge of the federal defender's office in Brooklyn, said in an email. "He was expressing how distraught he was at what he saw as the threats to our democracy posed by former President Trump."
Lawyers and spokespeople for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon set bail at $50,000, and ordered Welnicki to undergo alcohol and mental health treatment and submit to GPS monitoring.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor Zapana said there remained "lingering concern" about the defendant following his...
By JAMELLE BOUIE Donald Trump knew as well as anyone that he had lost the 2020 presidential election fair and square. He knew there was no conspiracy to commit voter fraud — no mysterious mail bal...