A Coast Guard lieutenant accused of plotting a terror attack on numerous Democratic lawmakers and media figures will remain in custody pending trial, a federal judge ruled Monday, reversing an earlier decision releasing him, according to Buzzfeed News.
U.S. District Judge Jarrod Hazel ruled Monday that no conditions of release could ensure Christopher Hasson would not be a threat and expressed concerns that the government could not confirm the whereabouts of two of his guns. Hazel also said it was “relevant and troubling” that Hasson allegedly compiled a hit list two weeks after reading a passage about targeting “category A traitors” in a manifesto by far-right Norwegian domestic terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011.
{mosads}Hasson’s lawyer, Elizabeth Oyer, argued that the government was seeking to detain Hasson based on a “gut feeling” and that reading manifestos like Breivik’s was not illegal, adding that it was not uncommon for people to make lists of their political enemies.
Hasson was arrested in February, with investigators saying he had stockpiled weapons and compiled a hit list of figures such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Prosecutors said there were at least 15 firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammunition in his home. In April, Magistrate Judge Charles Day agreed with Hasson’s public defender that because Hasson has not been charged on any terrorism-related counts, the government could not continue to detain him.
“He’s got to have a whole lot of supervision,” Day said in April. “Somebody who’s got eyes and ears on him like nobody’s business.”
Day ordered that Hasson remain confined to his home with electronic monitoring but the U.S. government appealed the ruling to Hazel’s court.