Michael Isikoff of Time is reporting the four men have been arrested in connection with a possible plot to Kill Barack Obama:
News of the alleged plot was first reported by the local CBS affiliate in Denver and the Rocky Mountain News. The local reports said the investigation was opened after local police in Aurora, Colo., which is located in Arapahoe County, made a traffic stop and discovered two rifles and methamphetamine. Authorities subsequently went to the Cherry Creek Hotel and knocked at the door of a guest in the middle of the night; the guest jumped out of his sixth-floor window but was subsequently recaptured. The man allegedly said something about Obama to authorities, but it could not be ascertained what comments were made, the reports said. Earlier today, I asked federal authorities about the FBI presence at the hotel last night, but officials declined to comment. […]
Monday evening, the U. S. Attorney’s office in Denver issued the following statement confirming an unspecified number of arrests. “This is a methamphetamine and firearms case that arose from a traffic stop made by an Aurora Police officer,” the statement read. “Firearms and methamphetamine were seized, and a number of individuals are in state custody. The matter continues to be under investigation. We’ll provide more information as it becomes available.” A law enforcement source said that prosecutors plan to file federal drug and gun charges against the suspects on Tuesday.
Wednesday evening, the FBI confirmed the identity of one of the suspects: Tharin Robert Gartrell. A source familiar with the investigation said that Gartrell and the other two suspects were believed to be white supremacists. The real question now is whether the men were in position to carry out any kind of threats against the candidate—or whether they were trying to impress girlfriends, the source said. The Obama campaign declined comment, referring reporters to the U.S. attorney’s statement.
A Denver television station is going further, claiming that the plot involved an attempt to shoot and kill Obama during his acceptance speech on Thursday:
CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were “going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a … rifle … sighted at 750 yards.”
Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects “was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative.” […]
Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas.
A man carrying a rifle at the hotel where Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is staying was also arrested on Saturday.
According to the hometown Denver Post, Pelosi was evacuated from the Grand Hyatt after a man tried to check in to the hotel while carrying a rifle case. The man did not have a concealed weapons permit, the Post reported.
I am very alarmed at these developments as should any decent law abiding American, regardless of political affiliation. We don’t need any more violent attacks against “liberals” and Democrats like the recent shootings at the Knoxville Unitarian church and the murder of the Arkansas Democratic Party Chair, which happened within the last several weeks. Unfortunately, the fact that an African American will be nominated by the Democratic Party, and the vicious attacks by right wing demagogues and the McCain campaign against his character and his patriotism (and that of his wife), have apparently emboldened some truly dangerous and deranged individuals to try to take matters into their own hands.
This is what happens when the airwaves of this country are saturated with racist and ideological hate speech by right wing ideologues such as Hannity, Limbaugh and Savage. It isn’t surprising but it is extremely disapponting and disheartening to see the extreme right once again returning to publicly expressing fantasies of violence against Democrats and liberals, thus inciting emotionally unstable people to carry out such violent fantasies. This same use of violent rhetoric was what led to the death of Martin Luther King and other prominent Civil Rights leaders in the 60’s, and may have contributed to the Kennedy assassinations. Now it appears that some in this country would like to return to using violence as a political tool once more.