On Jan. 6, 2021, a New York man named Christopher Moynihan was one of the first rioters to break into the U.S. Capitol. He was later sentenced to 21 months in prison. Moynihan did not, however, serve his full term behind bars, because he was one of the many criminals Donald Trump pardoned just hours after returning to power earlier this year.
Nine months after receiving the presidential reprieve, Moynihan made headlines again. On Tuesday morning, the public learned that the pardoned rioter had been arrested after allegedly threatening to assassinate House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
According to the evidence presented by local prosecutors, the man texted in reference to the New York Democratic congressman, “I cannot allow this terrorist to live.”
Hours after these revelations came to light, a reporter asked House Speaker Mike Johnson for his reaction to the developments. The Louisiana Republican said he knew very little about the story (a familiar posture for the GOP leader) before he ultimately blamed “the left” for having cultivated an “assassination culture.” (When a Republican is targeted with violence, it’s the left’s fault, and when a Democrat is targeted, it’s also the left’s fault.)
One day later, the House speaker sat down with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to talk about the ongoing government shutdown.
COLLINS: If you have a healthcare plan, why not have that out there to talk about in the public so people can hear it?MIKE JOHNSON: We need to get back to regular session so we can. We will not negotiate with legislative terrorists
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-10-23T01:18:40.622Z
“We will not negotiate with legislative terrorists,” Johnson said, referring to congressional Democrats.
In other words, on Tuesday, Americans learned of an alleged would-be assassin who described a Democratic leader as a “terrorist.” The next day, the Republican House speaker thought it’d be a good idea to appear on national television and describe Democratic leaders as “legislative terrorists.” In the wake of the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a great many GOP officials — including Johnson — eagerly drew a connection between inflammatory rhetoric and political violence. To hear these Republicans tell it, the more that prominent political voices use provocative language, the more dangerous the conditions for violence become. In the aftermath of those arguments, Donald Trump published an online item featuring the images of Democratic leaders, describing them as belonging to “the party of “hate, evil, and Satan.” Now that has been followed by the House speaker telling a national television audience that Democratic leaders are “legislative terrorists” one day after the public learned of a would-be assassin who described a Democratic leader as a “terrorist.” Evidently, one party is allowed to use inflammatory rhetoric and the other is not?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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