Man's Threat to Assassinate Trump Was 'Drunken Cry' for Reassurance: Lawyer

The lawyer representing a man who is accused of threatening to kill former President Donald Trump recently said that the threats were instead a "drunken cry for reassurance."

In January, 72-year-old Thomas Welnicki was arrested by U.S. Secret Service agents after he made several phone calls to the agency making threats to kill Trump as well as some members of Congress if the former president lost the 2020 election and did not concede the results.

In a court document filed this week, which was reviewed by Newsweek, Welnicki's lawyer, Deirdre von Dornum said, "Mr. Welnicki contends that he never knowingly and willfully made a true threat to kill, kidnap or inflict bodily harm upon Donald Trump, but that, instead, his words were political hyperbole and criticism, a desperate drunken cry for reassurance from the Secret Service."

According to the New York Daily News, Welnicki's lawyer made similar comments during her opening remarks of the trial saying that her client was "trying to make sure that he was not the only one who was scared and revolted by the actions of Donald Trump after he lost the election, that he was not the only one who saw Jan. 6 as the lowest point in our nation's history."

"He became a nuisance, a crank. He wanted someone to talk to. He was lonely, he was scared," the lawyer added in her opening remarks.

Criminal complaints previously filed accused Welnicki calling the Secret Service numerous times throughout 2021 and detailing plans to kill Trump.

"I am going to do anything I can to take out [Trump]. Oh yeah that's a threat, come and arrest me. I will do anything I can to take out [Trump]," Welnicki said in one of the messages to the Secret Service, according to the criminal complaint. "I will do everything I can to make sure [Trump] is dead."

Sadeer Sabbak, a member of the Atlanta Criminal Defense Team, told Newsweek that it is likely the defense laid out by Welnicki's attorney is to change the narrative "from someone that is a legitimate threat, to someone battling substance abuse issues which are responsible for his out of character behavior."

"By reframing the narrative, the defense has laid the foundation for a possible voluntary intoxication defense as well as mitigation in anticipation of any plea negotiations with the government," Sabbak, who is not directly involved in the case, told Newsweek.

Similarly, Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and current president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, also spoke to Newsweek about the case and said that "it's not surprising that the defense is trying to shift these statements into the political hyperbole, idle talk."

"When it comes to the alcoholism...voluntary intoxication is not a defense to any criminal law," Rahmani told Newsweek. "I think what they're trying to do is kind of give some context for this individual who basically they're arguing is mentally ill and isn't all there."

Rahmani continued, "Kind of a strange defense. Who knows what a jury will do? …It doesn't seem like a particularly good defense, but it's really the only defense that's available under the facts of this case."

Rahmani is also not directly involved in Welnicki's case.

Michael McAuliffe, a former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney in Florida told Newsweek that "The defense that Mr. Welnicki's conduct––including repeated calls to the Secret Service and statements made during law enforcement interviews––is simply political hyperbole will have to weather the jury's possible skeptical evaluation. The government must prove the defendant intended to threaten, but the proof of his intent can rely on circumstances and the actual words communicated.... The defendant's statements themselves are the alleged crimes, not any conduct to actually carry out violence. Importantly, the crime is not about the times he said he was a peaceful person, it's the times he said without ambiguity that he intended harm or kill Trump."

McAuliffe, who also serves as an attorney with McAuliffe Law PLLC in Florida, continued, "Mr. Welnicki's trial is about this guilt or innocence regarding the alleged threats against the former president, but the case also mirrors the larger issue of how to address this country's increasingly caustic undercurrent of potential political violence. Of course, the jury must only render a verdict about the individual case based on the evidence presented to it. The verdict, however, will likely be read against a darkening landscape of efforts to bring the existing political system down, or at least to heel. Those efforts reflect extremism, not necessarily partisanship."

Newsweek reached out to Welnicki's lawyer for further comment.

Update 11/4/2022, 1:13 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional comments from Michael McAuliffe.

Update 11/4/2022, 5:28 p.m. ET: This article was updated to state that McAuliffe was a former federal prosecutor and elected attorney in Florida.

Correction 11/7/2022, 9:13 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct a quote from McAuliffe that had a repeated word.