White supremacist Coast Guard officer arrested after terror plot on several politicians and journalists

According to court documents, Christopher Paul Hasson sought to establish a "white homeland" in America and was a follower of European racist mass murderer, Anders Brevik

Hasson
This image provided by the U.S. District Court in Maryland shows a photo of firearms and ammunition that was in the motion for detention pending trial in the case against Christopher Paul Hasson. (U.S. District Court via AP)

Christopher Paul Hasson, a former U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who identifies as a white nationalist, was arrested after federal investigators discovered he had a cache of weapons and ammunition that authorities say he was stockpiling to launch a domestic terrorist attack targeting left-leaning politicians and journalists, and people he deemed “traitors.”

FBI agents in Baltimore and the Coast Guard Investigative Service arrested Hasson, of Silver Spring, Md., on Friday, FBI Baltimore spokesman Dave Fitz confirmed, according to The Baltimore Sun.

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In court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, Hasson called for “focused violence” to “establish a white homeland” and allegedly dreamed of ways to “kill almost every last person on earth.” Though court documents stop short of detailing an actual date for an attack, government officials say Hasson has been collecting guns and ammunition since 2017, and that he had created a spreadsheet document of intended targets.

Those targets included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; “JOEY,” whom prosecutors say is a reference to Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”; “Cortez,” which reportedly is meant to reference Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; and “Sen blumen jew,” presumably about Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Authorities say Hasson also conducted Web searches using phrases such as “best place in dc to see congress people” and “civil war if Trump impeached.”

“The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country,” the government said in court documents filed this week, arguing that Hasson should stay in jail awaiting trial, according to the Sun.

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Hasson is due in court for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., on Thursday.

Although Hasson was arrested on illegal weapons and drug charges last Friday, but authorities say those charges are the “proverbial tip of the iceberg.” In court documents, the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland say Hasson was deep into neo-fascist and neo-Nazi beliefs and was intent on mass destruction.

“Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads,” Hasson wrote in a letter that prosecutors say was found in his email drafts, according to the Sun. “Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world.”

A magistrate judge ordered that the Office of the Federal Public Defender represent Hasson.

Since 2016, Hasson has worked at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, according to court documents. His military background also includes stints in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993 and two years in the Army National Guard in the mid-90s.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride, told the Sun on Wednesday that Hasson no longer works at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington D.C.

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No reason was given in court documents as to what prompted federal law enforcement officials to begin investigating Hasson, but according to the Sun, authorities say Hasson has been studying the 1,500-page manifesto of right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who unleashed two attacks in 2011 that killed 77 in Norway. They say Hasson’s attack preparations resembled Breivik’s.

In one letter government officials reportedly found, Hasson called for a “white homeland.” He sent the letter to himself nearly two months after the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white-supremacists clashed with anti-racist protesters.

“I never saw a reason for mass protest or wearing uniforms marching around provoking people with swastikas etc.,” Hasson said in the letter, according to court filings. “I was and am a man of action you cannot change minds protesting like that. However you can make change with a little focused violence.”

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