U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson is a self-identified white nationalist who wanted "focused violence” to “establish a white homeland." Specifically, Hasson drew started a list of targets, primarily Democratic lawmakers and liberal journalists. Back in 2017, he began stock piling various guns and ammo, which were kept hidden in his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, located just outside of Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reported.
“I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” Hasson wrote in one of his letters, where he said he contemplated starting a biological plague.
Various search terms on his computer proved to be concerning. "best place in dc to see congress people” and “are supreme court justices protected" were two phrases found in his internet search history.
The U.S. attorney's office in Maryland shared part of an email Hassan drafted.
“Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads. Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world," the email said.
According to prosecutors, Hasson was studying a 1,500 page manifesto written by Anders Behring Breivik, the person behind the 2011 Norway attacks. The book provided an outline for how to carry out a similar attack.
One of the things Breivik did to carry out his attack was take human growth hormones, something Hasson decided to adopt. Authorities found 30 bottles of the drug in his apartment. He had been purchasing the opioid Tramadol from an unidentified person online since 2016. Hasson also brought synthetic urine and clean kits in case he had a random drug test at work.
He drafted to a known American neo-Nazi leader, saying he had a "white homeland" in the Pacific Northwest, the Navy Times reported.
“You can make change with a little focused violence. How long we can hold out there and prevent niggerization of the Northwest until whites wake up on their own or are forcibly made to make a decision whether to roll over and die or stand up remains to be seen," Hasson wrote.
Names on Hasson's spreadsheet, on his work computer, included:
• Joey (no last name), but prosecutors believe it to be MSNBC's Joe Scarbarough
• MSNBC's Chris Hayes
• Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-NY)
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
• Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)
• MSNBC's Ari Lember
• Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
• CNN's Don Lemon
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
• Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
• Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)
• Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX)
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
• Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-TX)
• Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
• CNN's Chris Cuomo
• Civil rights attorney Angela Davis
• CNN's Van Jones
• Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta
He had also been conducting internet searches on his work computer:
8:54 a.m.: “what if trump illegally impeached”
8:57 a.m.: “best place in dc to see congress people”
8:58 a.m.: “where in dc to congress live”
10:39 a.m.: “civil war if trump impeached”
11:26 a.m.: “social democrats usa”
A bit about his background (from WaPo):
Hasson has been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid-1990s, the filings state.
Agents with the FBI field office in Baltimore and the Coast Guard Investigative Service arrested Hasson, FBI Baltimore spokesman Dave Fitz confirmed.
A Coast Guard spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride, said Wednesday that Hasson no longer works at Coast Guard headquarters.
The federal public defender's office is representing Hasson.
Defenders say the defendant is a domestic terrorist, the Washington Times reported.
“The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect government conduct,” prosecutors said in a memo to the juge.
Hasson is due for a detention hearing in federal court on Thursday afternoon.
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