An Ohio man arrested 18 months ago on suspicion of planning to bomb the U.S. Capitol and assassinate President Barack Obama pleaded guilty Monday to terrorism charges that will put him in prison for decades – but likely avert a life sentence.
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In an appearance in federal court in Cincinnati, Christopher Cornell, 22, shackled and dressed in black-and-white striped jail clothes, admitted to the charges of attempted murder of government officials, possession of a firearm to commit a crime and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Christopher Lee Cornell, of Green Township, Ohio, attempted to travel to Washington, D.C. and planned to carry out the attack during President Obama’s address to Congress on January, 20, 2015, according to a plea agreement cited in a U.S. Department of Justice statement. Sentencing is scheduled October 31.
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year prison sentence for Cornell.
Cornell was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in January 2015 shortly after buying two semi-automatic rifles from a Cincinnati gun shop and 600 rounds of ammunition, authorities said.
The Department of Justice said Monday that the plea agreement stated that in late 2014 Cornell planned and attempted to travel to Washington, D.C., to attack the Capitol during President Obama’s State of the Union address in January 2015. His father, John, told NBC News past year that he believed his son had been coerced by an informant who court records said was seeking lenience in a separate case. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Michael Dittoe of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Mangan of the Southern District of Ohio.
Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, is pictured in a 2012 yearbook photo from Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, obtained by CBS affiliate WKRC. He told the TV station that ISIS is “in every state”.
Defense attorneys had argued that Cornell, who underwent multiple psychological evaluations, would not have really attempted to carry out the plot.
“After his arrest, he posted statements online that included a call for others to join him in violent jihad against the United States and its citizens”, according to his admissions in the plea agreement. “I’m very dedicated to establish the Sharia in America”.
Cornell, 20, grew up in the Cincinnati suburbs and still lived with his parents.
“We’re here in Ohio”.
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USA Today said Cornell began his journey to radicalism as a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, pinging police radar by turning up at a 2013 memorial service for victims of the 2001 terrorist attack with a sign that said, “9/11 was an inside job”.
