Man found guilty of threatening to attack members of Congress in internet video

A man who made a video on the internet has been arrested and found guilty of "threatening to assault or murder members of Congress".
The crime is classified as a felony, and carries automatic lifetime loss of certain rights. Under the law, it is possible for the judge to sentence him for up to 10 years.

The man's name is Brendan Hunt, and this took place in New York City. He is the son of a retired New York City family court judge.

Hunt explained in his defense, "I had made that video one night when I had been having a bunch of beers, smoking a little weed, taken a few bong rips, and I kind of did this spur of the moment video, just spewing out some rhetoric, and I didn't think anything was wrong at the time."

He went on to say that he didn't take what was being said that seriously because he had previously seen the plenty of "kill Trump" rhetoric coming all of the place, including from many celebrities.

The prosecutor claimed in a Facebook account registered to HuntBrendan, Hunt posted his praise in December for people who have fought back against Covid pandemic protocols, and praised violence against police and also said people should instead "go after a high value target" like Pelosi, Schumer or Ocasio-Cortez.

Mark Lesko, the acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York had this to say about the trial's outcome: "With today's verdict, the defendant is now a convicted felon, not for his repugnant, racist rants, but because he threatened to attack and kill members of Congress to prevent them from carrying out their constitutional duties, and that is a federal crime."

Prosecutors previously showed the jury text messages that Hunt allegedly sent to his father last November, 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.

Hunt claimed that he purposely said extreme statements to anger his dad, but did not actually hold those beliefs.

The entire trial process took eight full days in court.


I think it goes without saying that the place where this man lived (that would have jurisdiction over the matter) probably had something to do with them taking the rant so seriously.