By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – (Note language in sixth paragraph.)
A New York City man pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges he posted threats online urging the “extermination” of Democrats and killing of people celebrating Joe Biden’s win over incumbent Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election.
Brian Maiorana, who prosecutors said is also a registered sex offender, entered his plea through his lawyer at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon in Brooklyn.
Maiorana, who is in his mid-50s, has been detained since his Nov. 10 arrest at his Staten Island home, where authorities said they found a semi-automatic firearm and ammunition. The defendant was indicted on Nov. 18, and also faces weapons charges.
Prosecutors said Maiorana began using social media in September to post threats targeting protesters, politicians and law enforcement.
They said these included posts calling for the “extermination of anyone that claims to be democrat,” and lamenting that the election had been “fraudulently stolen from us.”
According to the indictment, Maiorana wrote on Nov. 8, one day after many people took to the streets to celebrate Biden’s projected victory, that “all right thinking people need to hit the streets while these scumbags are celebrating and start blowing them away.”
Maiorana also expressed interest in blowing up an FBI building and appeared to target Democratic U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate minority leader, who Maiorana referred to as “the Jew Senator from Jew York,” the indictment said.
The defendant’s alleged posts also included a reference to “The Turner Diaries,” a 1978 novel that prosecutors said has influenced white supremacists and inspired terrorism, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
A status conference for Maiorana was scheduled for Feb. 5, 2021.
The case is U.S. v Maiorana, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 20-cr-00519.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
