Domestic Terrorist Was Allegedly Targeting Journalists, Dems

A Coast Guard officer being described as a domestic terrorist has been arrested and charged with "possession of a firearm and ammunition by an unlawful user or addict of controlled substances" and possession of a controlled substance (opioid). Those chareges are described as the "tip of the iceberg" in court documents that also outline threats the officer made to various Democratic politicians and journalists with CNN and MSNBC.

The Feds argue that the man is "bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct."

The defendant, Christopher Paul Hasson, was also a member of the Marines and Army National Guard. He has been working at the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington as an acquisitions officer for the National Security Cutter Acquisition Program, according to a document filed in a Maryland U.S. District Court, in which the Feds say he should be denied bail.

The document cites a deleted email draft obtained from the defendant's computer in which he claims to be "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed/ Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something."

On Jan. 17, 2019, Hasson, who had amassed a cache of weapons (see picture) allegedly compiled a "hit list" of targets for an attack, including MSNBC personality Chris Hayes and CNN's Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones, according to the attorneys. There is also a "Joey" in the spreadsheet list of targets that U.S. attorneys interpreted as MSNBC's Joe Scarborough.

The list was allegedly compiled while Hasson was surfing the CNN, MSNBC and Fox News websites, said the attorneys.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.