The man arrested Tuesday for threatening to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump during his inauguration is a member of a family with close personal ties to the Clintons, according to the UK's Daily Mail. Dominic Puopolo, who is currently being held at the Miami-Dade County jail, was arrested by Miami Beach police after using Twitter to threaten President-elect Trump's life and subsequently charged with threatening to harm a public servant.
Puopolo reportedly confessed to posting a video online in which he declared that he would attend the inauguration and kill Donald Trump. He was apprehended Tuesday afternoon leaving a Subway restaurant. According to a report published Wednesday by the Daily Mail, federal election records revealed that Puopolo had once given $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
Clinton gave eulogy at mother's funeral
Hillary Clinton, who delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Puopolo's mother, was a close family friend. The suspect's mother, Sonia Mercedes Morales Puopolo, was a major Democratic donor, philanthropist and professional ballet dancer who was killed on September 11, 2001 when her plane -- American Airlines Flight 11-- crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Several members of the Puopolo family, including Dominic and his sister, who is also named Sonia, are well known in political circles for financially supporting Democratic candidates and causes. In addition to donating $20,000 to the DNC in 1996, Dominic Puopolo also contributed to the campaigns of Ted Kennedy, Florida senator Bill Nelson and outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry, whom Puopolo also described as a close friend.
Suspect defrauded taxpayers by concealing wealth
Puopolo previously made headlines in March of 2016 after he was arrested for a petty crime. Although Puopolo was represented by a tax-funded public defender after being declared indigent by a judge, property records later revealed that Puopolo sold a property in Massachusetts for $4 million in 2013, and a Miami condo for $3.3 million.