Christopher Paul Hasson's Arrest

Submission 5,295

Overview

Christopher Paul Hasson's Arrest refers to the thwarted act of domestic terrorism attack by Coast Guard lieutenant Paul Hasson, a self-avowed white nationalist. Arrested on gun and drug charges, Hasson compiled a stockpile of weapons and a hit list of prominent Democrats.

Background

On February 20th, 2019, counterterrorism expert Seamus Hughes tweeted that a US coast guard lieutenant had been arrested on February 15th. They wrote,^[1] "A LT in the US Coast Guard was arrested this week for drug and gun charges. It looked like a run of the mill case until the detention memo filed yesterday. He had a hit list, contacts with white supremacists, guns, and, again, was an Coastie assigned to HQ." The tweet received more than 93,00 retweets and 13,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Developments

Hughes later posted portions of the court documents^[6] that describe the arrest as "the proverbial tip of the iceberg.^[2] The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct."^[3] Additionally, they posted a "draft letter to a well known American neo nazi advocating for a white state" and "a fan" of Andres Breivik, who committed a 2011 terrorist attack in Norway, killing 77 people.^[4]

Finally, Hughes tweeted^[5] pictures of Hasson's "stash of guns and a list of people he wanted to kill. It was a who’s who of media personalities and elected officials." The tweet received more than 2,900 retweets and 4,400 likes in 24 hours (shown below). The list included Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Kamala Harris, Representative Beto O'Rourke, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, CNN journalists Chris Cuomo and Van Jones and more.

In a statement, Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Barry Lane said, "An active duty Coast Guard member, stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC, was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by the Coast Guard Investigative Service, in cooperation with the FBI and Department of Justice. Because this is an open investigation, the Coast Guard has no further details at this time."

Online Reaction

MSNBC's Chris Hayes, who was also included on Hasson's list, tweeted,^[7] "There's a really persistent and unnerving obsession in many quarters of the right with a new civil war around the corner. It's become a fairly common theme. Shows up in the Hasson memo and, other places, too." The tweet received more than 2,300 retweets and 5,100 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Guardian editor Jon Swaine tweeted,^[8] "Christopher Hasson's emails suggest the recent radicalization of a dormant Nazi. Whining about 'liberalist/globalist ideology' destroying white America, '((((People))))' conspiring, Russia as new homeland. The idiom of the pro-Trump online far-right." The tweet received more than 295 retweets and 440 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Some wondered why the Department of Justice was not reporting on the arrest. Crooked Media editor Brian Beutler tweeted,^[9] "I hope we learn why DOJ arrested and charged Hasson without making a peep outside of charging documents. It is nearly certain Trump received a briefing on the action, and if he ordered DOJ to stay mum about it, we need to know." The tweet received more than 550 retweets and 1,300 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right). They continued, "I'm not sure how long it would've gone unnoticed, but I'm pretty sure that without the eagle-eyed work of @SeamusHughes, who also spotted the Assange charging screw up, we wouldn't know today."

That day, Twitter^[10] published a Moments page on the arrest.