‘White nationalist’ US Coast Guard officer Christopher Paul Hasson planned to kill Democrats, media personalities, say prosecutors
- Among those on his ‘hit list’ were Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi and CNN’s Don Lemon
- Raid on his flat found array of pistols and long guns, including semi-automatic weapons, and ammunition
US Coast Guard officer who espoused white supremacist views and drafted a target list of Democratic politicians and prominent media figures has been arrested on firearms and drug charges.
Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, was arrested last week and a powerful arsenal seized from his home in a Washington suburb, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.
“The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country,” US District Attorney Robert Hur said in a motion seeking that Hasson be detained until trial.
“The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct,” Hur said.
Hasson, who was arrested on Friday, is being held on drug charges and for unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition.
The US Attorney’s office said 15 guns and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Hasson’s cramped basement flat in Silver Spring, Maryland, along with illegal drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone.