A Texas man on Thursday was arraigned in Queens, New York, on charges of making death threats toward Democrat Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the party's nominee for mayor of New York City.
Jeremy Fistel, 44, of Plano, Texas, faces 22 total counts related to voicemails and written messages sent to Mamdani, according to The New York Times, including four counts of making a terroristic threat, four counts of making a terroristic threat as a hate crime, and seven counts of second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime.
Fistel allegedly sent numerous messages to the Mamdani campaign's district office in Queens, calling the candidate a "terrorist" who is "not welcome in New York or America" and warning Mamdani to be careful when starting his car.
The NYPD's hate crimes task force apprehended Fistel in Texas on Sept. 11 and extradited him to Queens on Wednesday, according to the district attorney's office. He was in court on Thursday, where he pleaded not guilty to the various charges.
"Let me be very clear — we take threats of violence against any officeholder extremely seriously — and there is no room for hate or bigotry in our political discourse," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Mamdani campaign released a statement thanking the district attorney for "treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves." The statement added, "Unfortunately, threats of this nature are all too common — and they reflect a broader climate of hate that has no place in our city."
Fistel's arrest came the day after conservative leader Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event in Utah.
Mamdani spoke about threats he's received since starting his campaign in an interview with Gothamist last June that took place before he won the Democrat primary, saying, "I woke up yesterday to a message that said, 'The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.' This is what I see and read quite regularly."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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