A U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist is expected to appear before a judge Thursday afternoon on weapons and drugs charges related to a terrorist attack he was plotting. Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, of Silver Spring, Md., is accused of stockpiling weapons and ammunition to attack journalists and politicians. Hasson’s ultimate goal, according to documents seized from his home: to“establish a white homeland.”
“I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” Hasson wrote, according to the Washington Post, which cited court records. The government says Hasson appears to have been planning the attack since 2017, with the weapons and drug charges being just the “proverbial tip of the iceberg.”
Among Hasson’s targets were cable news host and former U.S. congressman Joe Scarborough, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), whom Hasson referred to as “Sen blumen jew,” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-M.A.), referred to as “poca Warren,” a nickname Hasson appears to have lifted from Donald Trump. CBS Minnesota reports that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-M.N.) was also on the list.
Hasson was arrested Friday.
Also found in Hasson’s apartment was “ a locked container loaded with more than 30 vials of what appeared to be human growth hormone,” as well as opioid pills, writes the Post. That particular detail is drawn from a Norwegian white supremacist and mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011 during a planned rampage in Norway. According to a separate article from the Post, Breivik—who used explosives and firearms in his brutal attack, prepared a 1,500 page manifesto called the “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” which served to give instructions on how to carry out genocide based on white nationalist ideals. Among Breivik’s thoughts on planning targeted attacks: consuming steroids so he could be a “superhuman one-man-army for 2 hours.”
From the Washington Post:
The mass shooting was said to be unique in its day for converting hateful right-wing ideology into a civilizational crusade. Breivik wanted to cleanse the West of Muslims, but he also said he was inspired by al-Qaeda, calling the Islamic terror network, which also promoted a hypermasculine vision of adventure and self-sacrifice, “the most successful militant group in the world.”
Recent reports point to the fact that these ideologies—and the violent plots they inspire—are no longer so unique. This is true more broadly of hate-based crimes (the SPLC reports that hate crimes were up, once again, in 2018), but it also appears to be true of domestic terror attacks based on white supremacist ideology. Just last month, James Harris Jackson of Baltimore, Md., pleaded guilty to terrorism charges related to his killing a black man on St. Patrick’s Day 2017. Jackson said he wanted to “inspire white men to kill black men, to scare black men and to provoke a race war.”
Hassan echoed some of this in his own writings, hoping to capitalize on increased racial and political tensions, reports the Post.
“During unrest target both sides to increase tension,” Hasson wrote in an email. “In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence.”