A court employee from Queens was found guilty of making violent threats online to assassinate Democratic officials in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors say.
Brendan Hunt, 37, was arrested for his role in the attack on Jan. 19. He was found guilty of threatening to murder members of Congress.
Hunt, a full-time employee of the New York State Office of Court Administration and part-time actor/filmmaker, was arrested after he posted a video entitled “Kill Your Senators” online on the website BitChute, which is said to be popular among far-right conservatives on Jan. 8.
“We need to go back to the U.S. Capitol when all of the Senators and a lot of the Representatives are back there, and this time we have to show up with our guns,” Hunt purportedly said, calling on viewers to “slaughter these motherf—ers” around “the inauguration of” Biden.
Hunt was arrested after a tip was sent to the FBI. The video was traced back to Hunt’s phone and federal agents found that the video had been uploaded near Hunt’s Ridgewood home.
According to federal officials, Hunt made comments on Facebook and Parler making threats against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. However, the jury found that the two Facebook comments and the Parler post were true threats.
Hunt was one of several New York City residents who were arrested in connection to the Capitol attack. Hunt is set to be sentenced in June 2021, where he faces up to 10 years in prison.
