“Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said Friday that patrols are being stepped up around the local office of U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino after a retired Long Island Rail Road worker allegedly phoned in a threat to kill the congressman because of the elected official’s vote in favor of an infrastructure bill. Defendant Kenneth Gasper, 64, of Lake Ronkonkoma, surrendered to police Wednesday evening before he pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor aggravated harassment charge at his arraignment Thursday. John Ray, a lawyer for Gasper, said in a statement later Friday that his client was a ‘grandfather with a spotless record’ who hadn’t threatened the congressman.”

“‘Ken is an ordinary American who was offended when politician Garbarino became an overnight Democratic and voted, in Ken’s view, to wreck our country. He conveyed his chagrin to an unseasoned telephone aide in Mr. Garbarino’s office. Ken never made any threat,’ the Miller Place lawyer added. A court complaint charging Gasper with the misdemeanor alleges he called Garbarino’s congressional office in Massapequa Park at about 3:30 p.m. Monday. It says he spoke to a congressional staffer and ‘was extremely upset over an infrastructure bill’ and ‘unhappy’ with Garbarino’s vote on it. Garbarino was one of 13 House Republicans to vote Nov. 5 for the Democratic-led $1.2-trillion infrastructure package. Former President Donald Trump criticized those Republicans and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called them traitors” Newsday reports.

What the fuck type of criminal defense lawyer tells a local newspaper his client’s accuser voted to “wreck our country”? So what if the asshole was “offended”? It’s one thing for, say, a Capitol rioter’s lawyer to try to minimize the crime in a sentencing memorandum, that’s pretty much what all defense attorneys are paid to do, but to more or less try to justify violently threatening a member of Congress and their staff is another, and completely fucking insane thing entirely.