Federal investigators have broken up a plot allegedly hatched by a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant that could have turned into a major terrorist attack aimed at politicians and journalists. His targets allegedly included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
The Washington Post describes the suspect, Christopher Hasson, as a “self-identified white nationalist” who had stockpiled a large cache of weapons and ammunition.
Hasson, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was arrested Friday on weapons and drug charges and is expected to appear at a detention hearing on Thursday.
According to the Post, the charges Hasson currently faces “are the proverbial tip of the iceberg.”
Citing federal court records, the Post reported that Hasson called for “focused violence” — including biological attacks, bombings and a sniper campaign — to “establish a white homeland.”
In a kind of manifesto allegedly found on his computer, Hasson dreamed of ways to “kill almost every last person on earth.”
“Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since at least 2017,” the Post reported, “and searched the Internet using phrases such as ‘best place in dc to see congress people’ and ‘are supreme court justices protected.’”
Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland are quoted as saying Hasson is “a man obsessed with neo-fascist and neo-Nazi views” who plotted “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.”
A manifesto that was recovered also had CNN’s Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones on his hit list.
Hasson is due in federal court tomorrow.
