By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (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 the death of Trump, and once inquired about Secret Service protection for former presidents and their children.
The case was brought as the Republican former president continues pressing https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-false-claims-debunked-2020-election-jan-6-riot-2022-01-06 false claims that widespread voting fraud caused him to lose re-election to Democrat Joe Biden.
Welnicki was charged with threatening to kill, kidnap, and inflict bodily harm on Trump.
"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.
Prosecutors said Welnicki expressed interest in Trump's demise between July 2020 and December 2021, during and after Trump's presidency, in several voluntary communications with U.S. Capitol Police and the Secret Service.
Welnicki allegedly told Capitol Police in a July 2020 interview that if...
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