Queens man on trial for threatening Donald Trump was ‘a nuisance, a crank,’ but no danger, his lawyer says

A Queens man accused of threatening former President Trump didn’t really want to hurt or assassinate anyone — he was just sad, lonely and drunk, and the Secret Service were the only ones who would pick up the phone when he called, his lawyer told a federal jury Thursday.

Thomas Welnicki, 72, is on trial in Brooklyn for making a series of rambling phone calls to the Secret Service throughout 2021, threatening to kill Trump or assist in his murder, including saying, “I will do anything and everything that I can to see that Donald Trump is dead.”

Thomas Welnicki

His lawyer, Deirdre Von Dornum, described Welnicki as a harmless, medically compromised man who was trapped in his Queens apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic and spent all of his hours watching C-Span.

He called the Secret Service hundreds of times because he was “trying to find out if anyone cared about what was happening … 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,” Von Dornum said in her opening remarks.

Former President Donald Trump at a rally in Mesa, Ariz. on Oct. 9, 2022.

Welnicki doesn’t have a significant other or children, and no one was checking on him, and he became depressed, his lawyer said.

“He started drinking, maybe too much blackberry brandy in the morning, in the night,” Von Dornum said. “He became a nuisance, a crank. He wanted someone to talk to. He was lonely, he was scared.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta said that the Secret Service visited him at his home three times, each time warning him to stop.

“Instead, he kept calling,” she told the jury. “The defendant did not stop.”

She added, “This case is not about the election. This case is not about political parties. And this case is not about whatever you may think of former President Trump. This case is about the defendant threatening to kill someone.”

Judge Raymond Dearie, who is serving as the special master in Trump’s Mar-A-Lago documents case, is presiding over the trial.

Gupta played the jury portions of Welnicki’s calls between January and December of last year, starting with a Jan. 4 call where he said, “I hope and I pray, and I will aid and abet anyone who puts a bullet in Donald Trump.”

Welnicki regularly referred to himself as “Nicky Nitro,” and on Oct. 16, 2021, two days before Trump planned to come to New York for a deposition, he called the Secret Service asking how they plan to protect him after he landed at his Wall Street helicopter landing zone.

“I was wondering how you are going to protect this guy,” he said. “There are a lot of high places. I just don’t want you to put yourself in the middle of something that’s terrible. … It’s not a threat, and you can call me any time.”

On Sept. 26, 2021, he called 12 times, and in one call said that if Trump runs again in 2024, “I will not let Donald Trump in the White House again. I will do anything that’s necessary,” then clarified. “Did I say I would assassinate him? No, I said I will overthrow him, if …”

He asked the Secret Service agent if it was 2024 yet, then said, “It’s not, so until that occurs, you can’t do d–k to me, can you?”

The agent responded, ‘You know what? Until 2024, don’t call back, OK? Thank you,” and hung up.

Von Dornum, in her cross examination of the Secret Service case agent, played other calls from the same day Welnicki specifically said he didn’t want to assassinate anyone. “I’m not a bad guy, and I have no violence in my heart,” he was recorded as saying.

His trial continues on Thursday.

Regardless of the verdict, Welnicki faces a separate trial accusing him of threats made to members of Congress during his calls, after his defense lawyer successfully argued to split those accusations from the Trump threat case.

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