Man Charged With Killing Mom Of Ex-Trump Adviser Is Linked To Series Of Hate Crimes

The man accused of killing the mother of a former top Trump Middle East adviser is believed to be behind a series of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the days preceding her death. 

Cara Trager was walking home with her husband in Queens, New York, on May 25 when Dawood Faisal sped through two red lights and crashed into multiple vehicles, sending one into the crosswalk and fatally wounding her, authorities say. The incident happened just two days after he allegedly vandalized the kosher Bagels & Co. restaurant for the second time.

The timing has left Trager’s family questioning whether her death could have been prevented if the earlier antisemitic attacks had been addressed. Instead, Faisal is accused of getting behind the wheel in the heavily Jewish neighborhood, doing donuts in the street, and driving twice the speed limit before triggering the fatal chain-reaction crash. 

Trager’s family was already deeply connected to the fight against antisemitism: her son, Eric, was appointed by President Donald Trump as a senior director for Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council from January to May 2025, where he worked closely with Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff on Middle East policy and the war in Gaza.

According to authorities, on May 25 Faisal was driving a 2013 Toyota Prius southbound on Francis Lewis Boulevard at approximately 7:48 p.m. when he surpassed 75 mph in a 35 mph zone and ran at least two red lights.

He first allegedly slammed into a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon traveling through the intersection before striking a Nissan Rogue, sending it into the crosswalk where it hit Trager and her husband, Michael, who had been married for 47 years and were walking home from dinner.

Trager suffered severe head trauma and died four days later. Her husband suffered a shoulder injury, lacerations to his hands, and bruising to his face.

After the collision, Faisal allegedly got out of his vehicle and attempted to flee before picking up a stick to fight off good Samaritans who detained him until police arrived.

Video footage from the scene shows Trager face down on the pavement while her husband kneels down next to her along with debris and cars scattered through the intersection. 

@bukhariancommunity via Instagram

Michael recalled the moment he realized his wife had been struck in an interview with The Daily Wire, describing himself as “dazed” and struggling to understand what had happened.

“The first thing I did was I started punching myself to say, ‘Oh, gee, I’m still alive here,’” Michael recalled. “Then I saw that my wife was dead. I couldn’t believe it happened because I didn’t do anything wrong. We were crossing the street, and next thing I know, I’m on the ground with my wife.”

Faisal, 22, was arrested after the incident and indicted in June on second-degree manslaughter, assault, and other charges. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded into custody without bail. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. 

Michael attended Faisal’s arraignment just days after the crash, while Trager was hospitalized and dying from her injuries. 

“I was afraid that my wife was going to officially die when I’m at the arraignment, but I went,” Michael said, adding that Faisal’s family was also present at the proceeding and that his mother repeatedly cried while sitting in the courtroom.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘What are you crying for? Are you crying for your son, or are you crying because your son killed my wife? Why are you crying?’” Michael said.

On July 31, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Faisal had been arraigned on separate hate-crime charges stemming from two prior incidents at Bagels & Co., which openly displays itself as kosher and has Israeli flags in its storefront. The shop is located in the heavily Jewish Fresh Meadows neighborhood, close to the Tragers’ home and the area where Trager was killed.

Prosecutors allege that on May 15 around 6:18 p.m., Faisal knocked over nine metal plant stands outside the business, causing dirt and plants to spill onto the sidewalk, before allegedly picking up dirt and throwing it at the storefront twice.

Eight days later, at approximately 1 a.m. on May 23 — early Saturday morning, when religious Jews observe a day of rest for Shabbat — prosecutors allege Faisal returned to the store and pushed and kicked 11 metal plant stands, causing more dirt and plants to spill onto the sidewalk. He allegedly picked up the stands and emptied their remaining contents onto the sidewalk before attempting to kick over a large clay pot. When he was unable to knock it over, prosecutors say he ripped the plants out of the pot and other containers.

The vandalism was not the first time Bagels & Co. had been targeted over its Israeli flags. In November 2021, a man recorded himself threatening to burn down the store unless employees removed the Israeli flags, prompting condemnation from local officials, reported Tablet Magazine.

Video of the second alleged vandalism shows Faisal smashing furniture and the pots while wearing what appears to be traditional Muslim garb. Faisal is now being held at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center, where Department of Correction records list his country of “nativity” as Pakistan.

Authorities said that Faisal is not working or in school and that he was not on drugs or drunk during the manslaughter incident, according to Michael.

“As alleged, this defendant repeatedly targeted a Jewish-owned business and destroyed property in a vile act of antisemitism,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

If convicted, Faisal faces up to seven years in prison, according to Katz.

Faisal’s next court appearance is scheduled for September 8. Michael said he has been warned that Faisal could eventually be released on bail, a prospect that has left him fearful for his own safety.

Trager was aware of the bagel shop incidents, having spoken to her daughter Rachel Sales about them just two days before the fatal crash, Sales recounted in a piece for the New York Daily News.

Sales said the subsequent discovery that the same man was accused of both the vandalism and the reckless driving that killed her mother had transformed the family’s grief into anger.

“This has turned our existing nightmare into a greater nightmare, showing us that my mother’s death may have been prevented,” Sales wrote. “The antisemitic vandalism crimes were known and widely publicized. Yet, this hateful dangerous man remained on the loose and soon killed my mother.”

Although authorities are not investigating the crash as a hate crime, Michael believes the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death deserve scrutiny, particularly given the heavily Jewish neighborhood where the crash occurred and Faisal’s alleged attacks on the Jewish business days earlier.

“My contention is that the area itself is very, very Jewish,” Michael told The Daily Wire. “It’s Bukharian, it’s a Russian Jewish area, and most of the people who were eyewitnesses, the people who detained him, were Bukharian Jews.”

Michael said the circumstances made it more likely that the victims would be Jewish, even if he does not believe that proves his wife was specifically targeted.

“If you’re going to do that kind of act in that area, at that time, you’re more than likely, if you’re going to kill somebody, to kill a Jew,” he said.

Trager was a longtime Queens journalist who was active in her Jewish community throughout her life. She wrote for publications including Newsday, the New York Post, Crain’s New York Business, and also produced publications and marketing materials for Jewish organizations including UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Theological Seminary. 

Cara Trager (Courtesy)

Trager served on the board of Solomon Schechter School of Queens, a Jewish day school, and held leadership positions at her synagogue, Etz Hayim at Hollis Hills Bayside. Her husband described her as deeply committed to Israel and Judaism.

New NYPD data show that Jews were the targets in 70% of confirmed hate crimes reported in New York City in July, despite making up roughly 10% of the city’s population.

Queens has been particularly affected, with a string of unsolved antisemitic incidents in recent months. In early May, four people allegedly spray-painted swastikas and other antisemitic messages on synagogues, Jewish homes, and a car in Flushing and Forest Hills, followed days later by the discovery of nearly a dozen swastikas at two Queens parks on Mother’s Day.

On May 18, Albert Itzkowitz, a 75-year-old former kosher bakery owner and rabbi, was found shot to death in Kissena Park. Police have ruled his death a homicide but have not identified a suspect or motive, and his family has urged investigators to consider whether he was targeted because he was Jewish. The NYPD and Itzkowitz’s family have offered a combined $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

The incidents continued into July, when two Orthodox synagogues in Queens were vandalized with feces and motor oil in attacks the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating as potential hate crimes.