White nationalist planned to kill Chuck Schumer, other Democrats
Paul Hasson was arrested last week on gun and drug charges.
By MARCY OSTER/JTASenator Chuck Schumer(photo credit: REUTERS)
Prosecutors say a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant taken into custody had a hit list that included prominent Democrats including Sen. Chuck Schumer and media figures such as MSNBC’s Ari Melber.Christopher Paul Hasson of Silver Spring, Maryland, was scheduled to appear Thursday in Maryland District Court. The self-described white nationalist called for “focused violence” to “establish a white homeland” and said, “I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” The Washington Post reported, citing court documents.Hasson, a former Marine who works at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. , was arrested last week on gun and drug charges. The complaint was made public on Wednesday. Prosecutors have asked that Hasson be kept in custody until the end of proceedings against him.“The defendant is a domestic terrorist bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct,” prosecutors said in court documents.Along with Schumer, the Senate minority leader, another Jewish lawmaker found on Hasson’s hit list was Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, whom Hasson referred to as “Sen blumen jew.” Others on the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and announced Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke also appeared on the list.Among the media figures on the list along with the Jewish Melber, who hosts “The Beat with Ari Melber,” are Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough, also of MSNBC, and CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon and Van Jones.Federal agents found 15 firearms, many rifles and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition inside his basement apartment, as well as steroids and narcotics.Court documents said he was inspired by the manifesto of Anders Breivik, a right-wing extremist who was convicted of killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting attack in Norway.