Stuart Seldowitz, the former high-ranking U.S. national security official who was caught on video threatening a Manhattan halal cart vendor during several racist tirades, was quickly released from custody Thursday shortly after his arrest.
The disgraced ex-diplomat, who served under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was identified after several videos surfaced online that showed him repeatedly visiting a halal street vendor in the Upper East Side—and issuing barbaric threats and Islamophobic remarks against the unsuspecting small business operator.
He was identified by journalist Mohammed El-Kurd, and Seldowitz subsequently admitted to The Daily Beast that he was the man in the video. Police arrested Seldowitz on Wednesday. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.’s office charged him with fourth-degree hate crime stalking and second-degree aggressive harassment for threatening to injure the man’s family.
