The man who sprayed apple cider vinegar at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) earlier this year was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Thursday as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Anthony Kazmierczak, 56, attacked the Minnesota lawmaker in January when the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was experiencing a massive surge of federal immigration enforcement officers. Operation Metro Surge, as it was called by the Trump administration, ended abruptly after two U.S. citizens died in officer-involved shootings.
Omar held a town hall on Jan. 27 to express her opinion on the immigration operation. That was when she was charged by Kazmierczak, who sprayed a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar from a syringe at the Democratic member of Congress.
The man faced a federal charge for assaulting a U.S. officer in addition to state-level charges for threatening violence and assault.
Kazmierczak previously changed his plea from not guilty to guilty, leading to the reduced 14-month sentence. He initially faced up to eight years in prison.
The defendant was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, which includes no contact with Omar. He apologized for targeting the congresswoman.
“I’ve spent enough time in jail thinking,” Kazmierczak said in court. “I really apologize to her for having put her through that.”
Prosecutors alleged Kazmierczak planned to do something at the town hall, citing his text messages to at least three people as evidence. U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said the act wasn’t done in a “spur of the moment” as she handed down the sentence.
“An attack on a public figure is not a political statement. It is misguided, selfish, and inconsistent with any concept of a free or democratic society,” Ericksen said. Spraying anything at an elected official “is a terrifying thing, and you knew that when you did it.”
Kazmierczak had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2022, causing a series of health issues that affected his mental and emotional well-being. He also had struggled with alcohol abuse.
The Washington Examiner contacted Omar’s office for comment on the case’s outcome.
“I’m grateful to the prosecutors and judge for holding the perpetrator accountable for his actions in January,” Omar said. “Political violence or threats are never acceptable.”