Texas man charged with threatening NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani

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Texas man charged with threatening NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani

2025-09-19 02:48 Last Updated At：02:51

NEW YORK (AP) — A Texas man has been charged with making death threats against New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Jeremy Fistel, 44, was arrested in Texas and brought to New York for an arraignment on charges that he sent a series of threatening voicemails and written messages to Mamdani's office in June, prosecutors said.

In one message, Fistel said, “Start your car. See what happens," according to prosecutors. In others, he called Mamdani, who would be New York City's first Muslim mayor if elected, a terrorist and told him to go back to the country where he was born — Uganda.

“Muslims don’t belong here," Fistel said, according to prosecutors. “You deserve to be six feet underground," another message said, according to authorities.

Fistel, who faces charges of making terroristic threats and aggravated harassment, pleaded not guilty. He left court Thursday afternoon after posting a $30,000 bail.

Prosecutors had argued for a higher bail amount, noting Fistel had an earlier conviction where he pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy to distribute at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and was sentenced to time served. In that previous case, Fistel was charged alongside a man whose sentence was later commuted by President Donald Trump in the final days of the Republican's first term.

His lawyer, Todd Douglas Greenberg, said in court that his client was a respectable person and disputed the nature of the more recent charges, arguing that Fistel used words such as “wish” and “hope" rather than making “specific and imminent” threats.

“No one is sitting here arguing that what my client allegedly said was proper. It was unpleasant speech, but it was free speech,” Greenberg said.

Prosecutors said they’re prepared to submit to the court a statement recorded on video that Fistel made to authorities in front of his home in Plano.

“If this is about phone calls, I just won’t make them anymore,” he told officers, according to a transcript read aloud in court. “I don’t like people who support terrorism. I don’t like that at all.”

Fistel said he didn’t threaten anyone and didn’t believe he committed any crime as he claimed he was “just a regular guy” and pleaded with authorities not to place him under arrest.

“I am sorry. Stupidity is not fun,” he said, according to prosecutors. “Sometimes you get ashamed of yourself.”

The charges came during a period of heightened tensions around political violence in the U.S., following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah last week and the fatal shootings of a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband earlier this year.

Politicians in both parties and at many levels of public service have been forced to deal with acute security concerns, with some canceling public appearances, while others are relying on a large police presence to keep them safe.

In June, Mamdani, a Democrat who serves in the New York state Assembly, told reporters that he had received threats on his life and "on the people that I love.”

His campaign released a statement Thursday that said, “Unfortunately, threats of this nature are all too common — and they reflect a broader climate of hate that has no place in our city.”

“We cannot and will not be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia and hate,” the statement read.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Thursday morning that Mamdani has been given a full police security detail.

But Adams, who is running against Mamdani in the mayoral election, also took the opportunity to chide Mamdani, saying it was “ironic” that someone who has criticized the city's police department would now be benefiting from its protection.

“The person who made the threat should be apprehended. It just goes to show that these officers carry out their job, no matter who the person is," Adams said.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents and became an American citizen in 2018, shortly after graduating college. He was first elected to the New York Assembly in 2020.

Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to end protests in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke an 1807 law and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.

The threat comes a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law, to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump said in social media post.

Presidents have invoked the law more than two dozen times, most recently in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to end unrest in Los Angeles. In that instance, local authorities had asked for the assistance.

Trump has repeatedly toyed with the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act, starting in his first term, but hasn't followed through. In 2020, for example, he threatened to use the act to quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police.

“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said on X.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he would challenge any such action in court. He's already suing to try to stop the surge by the Department of Homeland Security, which says officers have arrested more than 2,500 people since Nov. 29 as part of an immigration operation in the Twin Cities called Metro Surge.

The operation grew when ICE sent 2,000 officers and agents to the area early in January. ICE is a DHS agency.

In Minneapolis, smoke filled the streets Wednesday night near the site of the latest shooting as federal officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd. Protesters responded by throwing rocks and shooting fireworks.

Demonstrations have become common in Minneapolis since Good was fatally shot on Jan. 7. Agents who have yanked people from their cars and homes have been confronted by angry bystanders demanding they leave.

“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of three people who said they were questioned or detained in recent days. The lawsuit says two are Somali and one is Hispanic; all three are U.S. citizens. The lawsuit seeks an end to what the ACLU describes as a practice of racial profiling and warrantless arrests. The government did not immediately comment.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in Los Angeles and Chicago and despite seeing initial success, have tended to fizzle in the face of appeal. In Chicago, for example, last year a judge ordered a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to brief her nightly following a lawsuit by news outlets and protesters who said agents used too much force during demonstrations. But three days later, an appeals court stopped the updates.

Homeland Security said in a statement that federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday stopped a driver from Venezuela who is in the U.S. illegally. The person drove off then crashed into a parked car before fleeing on foot, DHS said.

Officers caught up, then two other people arrived and the three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.

“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said. The confrontation took place about 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) from where Good was killed.

Police chief Brian O’Hara said the man who was shot did not have a life-threatening injury. O’Hara's account of what happened largely echoed that of Homeland Security, which later said the other two men were also in the U.S. illegally from Venezuela.

The FBI said several government vehicles were damaged and property inside was stolen when agents responded to the shooting. Photos show broken windows and insults made with paint. A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information. The FBI’s Minneapolis office did not immediately reply to messages seeking more details.

St. Paul Public Schools, with more than 30,000 students, said it would begin offering an online learning option for students who do not feel comfortable coming to school. Schools will be closed next week until Thursday to prepare for those accommodations.

Minneapolis Public Schools, which has a similar enrollment, is also offering temporary remote learning. The University of Minnesota will start a new term next week with different options depending on the class.

Madhani reported from Washington, D.C. and Golden reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporters Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Rebecca Santana in Washington; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.