Brendan Hunt — whose father is a retired judge and who allegedly threatened the lives of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, now-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — was sentenced Monday to 19 months in prison after being found guilty of one count of threatening to assault or murder US officials.
“We will not tolerate threats to members of the United States Congress or calls to overthrow our democratically elected government,” US Attorney of the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in a statement.
Prosecutors argued at the time that Hunt had posted videos of himself at his Queens home in January discussing the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, threatening to kill senators and encouraging others to go back to the Capitol on Inauguration Day and take their guns.
In a Facebook account registered to HuntBrendan, prosecutors said, Hunt posted his praise in December for people who have fought back against Covid-19 mitigation protocols — and praised violence against police but also said people should instead “go after a high value target” like Pelosi, Schumer or Ocasio-Cortez.
Prosecutors also showed the jury text messages that Hunt allegedly sent to his father around the time of the presidential election. In the string of messages, Hunt allegedly mentioned Adolf Hitler and said the American people would support then-President Donald Trump if he overrode the democratic process like Hitler did to remain president despite the election looking like it was leaning in now-President Joe Biden’s favor.