Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images/VCG

The US Secret Service arrested a 72-year-old man in New York on Monday after he allegedly phoned them threatening to kill ex-president Donald Trump, a criminal indictment showed.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn say Thomas Welnicki "knowingly and willfully threatened to kill, kidnap, and inflict bodily harm upon" the former US president.

It alleges that Welnick told US Capitol Police during an interview in July 2020 that if Trump "loses the 2020 election and refused to step down" he would "acquire weapons and take him down."

Welnick is also accused of having left two voice mail messages with the Secret Service's office in Long Island, New York in January 2021 in which he "threatened to kill" Donald Trump as well as a dozen unnamed members from Congress.

"Oh yeah that's a threat, come and arrest me. I will do anything I can to take out [Individual-1] and his 12 monkeys," Welnick, who lives in Queens, is alleged to have said.

Welnick is also accused of having called the Secret Service's desk in New York City in November 2021 three times from his cell phone.

Welnick was arraigned on the charges in a Brooklyn federal court via video conference later Monday and was to be released on payment of a $50,000 bond. 

AFP