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‘Domestic terrorist’ planned to target Democrats, prosecutors say

Pelosi, Schumer among several lawmakers on U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant’s list

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer were among several Democrats targeted for attack by a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer were among several Democrats targeted for attack by a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant assigned to the headquarters in Washington “is a domestic terrorist” whose potential victims included numerous Democratic members of Congress, federal prosecutors said in a court filing.

A federal search of Christopher Hasson’s basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, found 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as drugs he illegally possessed, prosecutors told a judge Tuesday in a bid to keep him in custody pending a trial.

Those firearm- and drug-related charges “are the proverbial tip of the iceberg,” the prosecutors wrote. “The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct.”

In a 2017 letter to a known American neo-Nazi leader, Hasson identified himself as a white nationalist for more than 30 years and had compiled a list of “prominent Democratic Congressional leaders, activists, political organizations, and MSNBC and CNN media personalities” as targets for attack, federal prosecutors wrote.

A list Hasson compiled in January, federal prosecutors said, included names presumed to be the following Democratic lawmakers: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, and Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California.

The list also included House Democratic lawmakers — Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Maxine Waters of California, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas — the government told the court.

A year ago, Hasson did internet searches that included “where do most senators live in dc,” “do senators have ss [secret service]” and “are supreme court justices protected,” the prosecutors said.

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