Men charged with plotting to kill Obama
Story Highlights
Plot included killing 100 African-Americans, beheading 14, officials say
Plot was to end with attempt to kill Obama while wearing white, police say
Law enforcement sources sees no evidence men could pull off plot
Federal prosecutors charge Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18
(CNN) -- Federal prosecutors charged two men with plotting a "killing spree" against African-Americans that would have been capped with an attempt to kill Sen. Barack Obama while they wore white tuxedos, federal officials said Monday.
The U.S. attorney's office in Jackson, Tennessee, said Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were self-described white supremacists who met online through a mutual friend.
Both men have been charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.
The men planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be beheaded, according to the affidavit. But federal law enforcement sources said there was no evidence Cowart, of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman, of West Helena, Arkansas, had any details of Obama's schedule.
"We take this very, very seriously but we see no evidence these guys have the ability or the wherewithal to pull off what they say they wanted to do," one law enforcement source said.
According to an affidavit from the federal agent who questioned them, Cowart and Schlesselman planned to charge at Obama with a car, firing from the windows as they went. They would be dressed in white tuxedos and top hats during the attempt, the affidavit states.
Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested outside Jackson, about 75 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee, after an aborted robbery attempt last week, according to court records.
Though they told investigators they would be willing to die in their mission, the men backed out of their October 21 attempt to rob the gun dealer after spotting two cars and a dog at the home, the affidavit states. The men also shot out the window of a church on their way back to Cowart's grandfather's home, where they were arrested the next day.
Cowart and Schlesselman made their initial appearances before a federal judge Monday and are scheduled for a bond hearing Thursday in Memphis.
Obama, an Illinois Democrat, is the first African-American nominee to lead a major-party ticket and was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007, far earlier than other candidates.
Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said it was unclear whether the suspects would have had the capability or means to carry out any sort of plot. But he said the matter was being taken seriously, and a joint investigation was under way.
There was no indication either had attended any Obama event or had drawn Secret Service attention in the past, Zahren said.
Campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass said, "We never comment on security matters."
Threats against Obama have led to arrests in two previous cases. In one, federal prosecutors concluded that the three people arrested with drugs and weapons in a suburban Denver motel posed a "true threat" to the candidate.
In the second, a Florida man was charged with threatening bodily harm against the candidate in August. He has pleaded not guilty.
CNN Chief National Correspondent John King contributed to this report.
- Re: White trash charged with plotting to kill Obamaposted on 10/28/2008
但愿这不是“民主党”助选人搞的假新闻。
其实这种汹汹,我在纽约乡下都能感到。奥巴马上台,得有五十个贴
身警卫,不仅要好枪法,还要炼就一身中国功夫。
但愿两小这家伙只是想在媒体爆出名一下而已:-)
- Re: White trash charged with plotting to kill Obamaposted on 10/28/2008
听起来像是你在左右开弓自打嘴巴。 :-)
xw wrote:
但愿这不是“民主党”助选人搞的假新闻。
其实这种汹汹,我在纽约乡下都能感到。奥巴马上台,得有五十个贴
身警卫,不仅要好枪法,还要炼就一身中国功夫。
但愿这家伙只是想在媒体爆出名一下而已:-)
- Re: White trash charged with plotting to kill Obamaposted on 10/28/2008
轻松一下嘛,这位七星。
我确实有这种担心,经浮生提示,担心就更重了。
今天果然证实。。小不死到纽约,警卫队把几片街区都封掉了,五十
名警卫,小意思啦。
经济一不好,这事就更多了,何况政治中介。
- Re: White trash charged with plotting to kill Obamaposted on 10/28/2008
这个问题确实严重,如果人都是上帝造的,同等环境下,美国没有道理比中东的恐怖分子少。
- posted on 10/28/2008
奥巴马要是选不上总统,会更加令人担心。研究表明,人们感觉不幸福,很大因素是期望没有达到,而不是期望的或达到的是什么。这么多人全身心地投入支持他,那种大集体的失望所产生的郁闷,特别是代表媒体大部分声音的那个集体,对社会安定的影响是会长远的。很失望时,人们感到的不是我的人没选上,而是想到其它方面,去抱怨其它的原因,诸如种族问题论,社会没落论会越唱越响。
奥巴马要是选上,当然不排除这种“white trash”的出现,但是美国其实接受黑人的程度其实比世界上任何一个西方国家都高的多,这一点即使没有黑人总统上台也已经有目共睹。再说说到底奥巴马不还只是半个黑人而已吗。大选时期奥巴马阵营希望选民只看见他是黑人这一半,大选后决计不会如此的了,除非他不要和谐。
xw wrote:
轻松一下嘛,这位七星。
我确实有这种担心,经浮生提示,担心就更重了。
今天果然证实。。小不死到纽约,警卫队把几片街区都封掉了,五十
名警卫,小意思啦。
经济一不好,这事就更多了,何况政治中介。
Please paste HTML code and press Enter.
(c) 2010 Maya Chilam Foundation