The Coast Guard lieutenant accused of stockpiling weapons and planning an attack on Supreme Court justices and notable Democrats has asked for leniency from a federal judge in Maryland, The Washington Times reported.
Prosecutors have accused Christopher Hasson, 25, of being a domestic terrorist and have recommended a 25-year prison sentence.
Hasson worked at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C., and reportedly expressed extremist views for years, according to prosecutors. Draft emails they submitted to the court show Hasson describing how "to kill almost every last person on the earth," with biological weapons.
He also appears to have been inspired by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011, and "identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom wrote, "The defendant — inspired by racist murderers — stockpiled assault weapons, studied violence, and intended to exact retribution on minorities and those he considered traitors. But for the diligent actions of multiple federal law enforcement agencies, we now would be counting bodies of the defendant's victims instead of years of the defendant's prison time."
Hasson's attorneys claim their client's drug use impaired his judgment and caused his behavior, which they said was "inconsistent with his true character."
They add, Hasson "is an asset, not a danger, to our society," and they wrote: "His career, reputation, and life as he knew it are destroyed. And after all of this, the criminal case against Mr. Hasson has turned out to be little more than a run-of-the mill firearms-possession case."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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