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Long-shot Democratic congressional candidate Kirill Basin was arrested last weekend following an altercation at a Maui beach ahead of the Democratic primary in Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District on Aug. 8, where he’s seeking to unseat two-term Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii).
According to the Maui Police Department, the incident began after a 61-year-old man asked Basin to turn down his music. Basin allegedly implied he was armed and threatened to shoot the older man’s wife.
The police stated a bystander intervened leading to a brief physical altercation in which Basin allegedly threatened multiple beachgoers with a knife before throwing the weapon into the ocean.
He was arrested the day of the incident on two counts of terroristic threatening in the first degree with his bail set at $1 million. Basin’s lawyer Brandon Segal told Hawaii News Now that the amount was “outrageous” and stated “these are just allegations. My client has a presumption of innocence.”
Segal argued against the weapon claims in court Wednesday, saying there is “no evidence in any of these videos that have been circulated tremendously that he ever had a knife in his possession. He never had a firearm in his possession.”
A video was released that captured part of the encounter appearing to show Basin threatening the group before being knocked to the ground.
Basin has been arrested numerous times, according to court records. Earlier in his congressional campaign, he was arrested in May for brandishing his gun in a government building during an argument with Maui County workers.
If Basin were to upset Tokuda’s reelection bid, he would face state Sen. Brenton Awa (Hawaii), one of three Republicans in Hawaii’s state Senate, in the general election.
According to his candidate website, Basin moved to Maui during the pandemic and “went to law school, ran operations as COO of a 3,000-employee healthcare company and managed institutional acquisitions.”
The court has recommended Basin undergo a mental health assessment.
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