Patrick W. Carlineo pleads guilty for threatening to ‘put a bullet’ in Ilhan Omar’s skull

A man who threatened to “put a bullet” in Rep. Ilhan Omar pleaded guilty Monday to threatening to kill the Minnesota Democrat.

The threats occurred over the phone in March, where a staff member of Ms. Omar — one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress and the first to wear a hijab — took a call from Patrick W. Carlineo Jr., who left his name and contact number with staff.

“Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood?” Carlineo asked, according to the criminal complaint reported by The New York Times.. “Why are you working for her, she’s a [expletive] terrorist. Somebody ought to put a bullet in her skull. Back in the day, our forefathers would have put a bullet in her [expletive].”

“I’ll put a bullet in her [expletive] skull,” he added.

In a conversation with the F.B.I. following the threat, Carlineo said he hated “radical Muslims in our government.” An avid fan of President Trump, he believed Ms. Omar was part of an Islamic terror group.

While he initially denied saying the words on the call after reading a transcript, he later “went on to say that he may have said something” to that effect, according to the complaint.

Ms. Omar — a Somali refugee who came to the U.S. when she was a teenager — responded to the conviction by posting her letter to the judge on Twitter, asking the judge to show mercy in Carlineo’s sentencing.

“Threatening assassination of a public official in our country is dangerous to both the individual and our republic,” Ms. Omar wrote, calling the crimes “grave” but asking “for a system of compassion to be applied.” 

“Threats of political violence and hate speech are not unique to Mr. Carlineo. They are an increasing feature in our public sphere,” Ms. Omar added. “We will not defeat it with anger and exclusion. We will defeat it with compassion.”

Mr. Carlineo also plead guilty to illegally possessing three rifles, two shotguns a .45-caliber handgun and rounds of ammunition which due to a 1998 conviction he wasn’t allowed to have.

Mr. Carlineo, of New York, will be sentenced Feb. 14th and faces up to 10 years in prison. He is currently released but restricted from going out at night or traveling outside of western New York.