2008 Barack Obama assassination scare in Tennessee

The Barack Obama assassination scare in Tennessee refers to an alleged plot by Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart to assassinate

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

, then 2008 Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

presidential nominee

Presidential nominee

In United States politics and government, the term presidential nominee has two distinct meanings.The first is the person chosen by the primary voters and caucus-goers of a political party to be the party's nominee for President of the United States...

. The two men, both of whom held strong white supremacist

White supremacy

White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...

beliefs, spoke of killing Obama during a planned murder spree of 88 African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

s in Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, many of whom were to be young students at an unidentified, predominantly black school.

Schlesselman and Cowart were arrested October 22 and found to be in possession of several weapons. The men told authorities of their planned assassination and killing spree, and said they intended to rob a gun store for additional weapons and perform home robberies to help fund the murders. Although the United States Secret Service

United States Secret Service

The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

said they were taking the plot seriously, authorities said they have not yet determined how capable the duo were of carrying out the alleged plot. Both plotters have pled guilty to various federal charges; Judge J. Daniel Breen

J. Daniel Breen

John Daniel Breen is a United States federal judge at the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Breen received a B.A. from Spring Hill College in 1972 and a J.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1975. He was in private practice in...

of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee is the Federal district court covering the western part of the state of Tennessee. Appeals from the Western District of Tennessee are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The United States District...

sentenced Schlesselman to 10 years imprisonment on April 15, 2010 and Cowart to 14 years in prison on October 22, 2010.

Investigation and arrests

Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena

Helena-West Helena, Arkansas

Helena-West Helena is the county seat of and the largest city within Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. The current city represents a consolidation, effective on January 1, 2006, of the two Arkansas cities of Helena and West Helena. West Helena is located on the western side of Crowley's...

, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells

Bells, Tennessee

Bells is a city in Crockett County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,171 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bells is located at ....

, Tennessee

Tennessee

, allegedly plotted to assassinate Barack Obama

Barack Obama

during his 2008 presidential campaign

United States presidential election, 2008

The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

. Both white power skinheads, Schlesselman and Cowart were introduced to each other via the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

in September 2008 by a mutual friend who shared their white supremacist

White supremacy

beliefs. Within a month they began planning to kill Obama by driving their vehicle toward him as fast as they could and shooting at him from the windows. The murder was planned as the final act of violence of a killing spree in which the duo planned to kill 88 African American

African American

s by gunfire, mostly children at an unidentified, predominantly black

Black people

The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

school. They also planned to behead 14 of the 88 victims. The numbers were chosen for their special significance in the white power movement; 88 means "Heil Hitler

Hitler salute

The Nazi salute, or Hitler salute , was a gesture of greeting in Nazi Germany usually accompanied by saying, Heil Hitler! ["Hail Hitler!"], Heil, mein Führer ["Hail, my leader!"], or Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]...

", since H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, and 14 represents the 14-word white supremacist mantra

Fourteen Words

The Fourteen Words is a phrase used predominantly by white nationalists. It most commonly refers to the 14-word slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children", and it can also refer to another 14-word slogan: "Because the beauty of the White Aryan women must...

, "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

Schlesselman and Cowart chatted on the Internet about how to carry out the spree. Schlesselman suggested using a sawed-off shotgun

Sawed-off shotgun

A sawed-off shotgun also called a sawn-off shotgun and a short-barreled shotgun , is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel and often a shorter or absent stock....

because it would be easy to maneuver; he also said he planned to steal a gun from his father. Prior to their arrest, the men decorated their car with a Swastika

Swastika

The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...

and drew the numbers 88 and 14 on their hood using window chalk. Authorities believe the duo may have planned to move from state to state to choose their victims. They also planned to wear white tuxedos

Black tie

Black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions. For a man, the main component is a usually black jacket, known as a dinner jacket or tuxedo...

and top hat

Top hat

A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...

s during the assassination attempt.
On October 22, Schlesselman and Cowart shot at a glass window

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

on the front door of the Allen Baptist Church in Brownsville, Tennessee

Brownsville, Tennessee

Brownsville is a city in Haywood County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Haywood County. The city is named after Jacob Jennings Brown, an officer who served during The War of 1812.-Geography:...

. The two men bragged to a female friend about the shooting; the friend told her mother, who notified the Haywood County Sheriff's Department. Investigators traced the shell casings to Schlesselman and Cowart, and notified the Crockett County Sheriff's Department, who took the pair into custody after spotting the Swastikas, slurs and 88 and 14 numbers on their car.

Police seized a rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols

Handgun

A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....

from the men at the time of the arrest. They were detained in Bells for a few days before being moved to another facility. During interrogation, the duo told authorities of their plan to kill Obama. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...

handled the initial federal investigation of the case. The United States Secret Service

United States Secret Service

became involved in the investigation once the supposed assassination

Assassination

plot was discovered. The Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

was also involved in the investigation. Both men were charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a firearms dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate; a superseding indictment additionally charged the pair with civil rights conspiracy and conspiracy, and charged Cowart with destruction of religious property and a related firearms charge. Authorities have found no evidence that anyone besides the two men were involved in the plot, but authorities are still investigating the possibility.

Both Schlesselman and Cowart acknowledged that they would be killed as a result of the murders and insisted they were willing to die. Authorities said the pair planned to break into a gun shop to steal more weapons for their attack, and also bought nylon rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

and ski masks at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

to use in a robbery

Robbery

Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....

or home invasion

Home invasion

Home invasion is the act of illegally burgling or entering a private and occupied dwelling for the purpose of committing a crime Home invasion is the act of illegally burgling or entering a private and occupied dwelling for the purpose of committing a crime Home invasion is the act of illegally...

to fund the spree. The duo asked a friend to drive them to a house they planned to rob, but they cancelled the robbery after getting scared by a dog and two vehicles in the driveway.

Assessment of threat

Secret Service and other authorities said they were treating the plot very seriously, but acknowledged it did not appear to have moved to an advanced stage. Authorities said there did not appear to be any formal assassination plan and said they were unable to assess how capable the duo was of carrying out the attack. Federal authorities told the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

they did not believe Schlesselman and Cowart had the means to carry out their threat. Barack Obama did not have any campaign appearances planned for Tennessee. One federal law enforcement official told the AP that plans did not include Obama's schedule or a specific time and place for the assassination because, "I don't think they had that level of detail." Authorities said they made several mistakes during their planning, including drawing too much attention to themselves with their car markings. Authorities also felt the duo's failure to carry out a home robbery together indicated they would be unable to assassinate Obama. When asked whether the alleged threats were real, Daniel Cowart's lawyer, Joe H. Byrd, told reporters, "White top hats and tuxedos? You tell me."
Fred Fielder, police chief in Helena-West Helena, said the alleged plot in Tennessee particularly concerned him due to the fact that 66 percent of the city's 12,200 population are African American; he said to reporters, "Predominantly black school, take your pick." Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...

, described the plans and weapons arsenal as frightening, but said, "With the part about wearing top hats...it gets a bit hard to take them seriously." Nevertheless, Potok said "the reality is, they might have walked into a black high school and killed 20, 30, 40 people before anybody knew who they were." An editorial in The Daily News Journal
The Daily News Journal
The Daily News Journal is a newspaper serving Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Rutherford County, and surrounding communities. Published in Murfreesboro, it serves as the primary local newspaper, with competition from The Murfreesboro Post and other publications...

in Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Murfreesboro is a city in and the county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 108,755 according to the United States Census Bureau's 2010 U.S. Census, up from 68,816 residents certified during the 2000 census. The center of population of Tennessee is located in...

, said the plot emphasized a dark undercurrent of racism still alive in the United States, but said their chances of actually killing Obama were "almost nil. Their plot was so disorganized they appear to be candidates for 'dumb criminals,' not calculating assassins."

Despite initial concerns about the plot, the Barack Obama campaign was not notified of the alleged plot; an Obama aide told ABC News

ABC News

ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

, "They were given no heads up." Concerns were already strong about possible plots against Obama due to his status as the first African American presidential nominee for a major political party. The senator had been receiving Secret Service protection since May 2007, which was the earliest for any candidate, and authorities had already foiled an alleged assassination plot

2008 Barack Obama assassination scare in Denver

The Barack Obama assassination scare in Denver refers to an alleged plot by Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan Dwaine Johnson to assassinate Barack Obama, then the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee...

at the 2008 Democratic National Convention

2008 Democratic National Convention

The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...

in Denver, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

Paul Schlesselman

Paul Schlesselman is of German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

descent and was a high school dropout raised by a single father in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas

Helena-West Helena, Arkansas

. He hated his small Delta

Arkansas Delta

The Arkansas Delta is one of the five natural regions of the state of Arkansas. It runs along the eastern border of the state next to the Mississippi River. It is part of the Mississippi River alluvial plain, itself part of the Mississippi embayment...

region hometown because of its predominantly black population. He had never had any problems with the law prior to the alleged Obama plot. He had a strong affinity for drinking and smoking.

Schlesselman publicly claimed white people were the master race

Master race

Master race was a phrase and concept originating in the slave-holding Southern US. The later phrase Herrenvolk , interpreted as 'master race', was a concept in Nazi ideology in which the Nordic peoples, one of the branches of what in the late-19th and early-20th century was called the Aryan race,...

and would often say "Sieg Heil" and "Heil Hitler." He spoke out against Obama, saying things like, "Obama would make the world suffer." His sister Kayla, who is two years younger than Paul, often argued with him about his racial beliefs. A few days before his arrest, a neighbor said he heard semiautomatic gunfire coming from an open field behind Schlesselman's house. After his arrest, Schlesselman's family expressed doubt that he seriously intended to carry out the plot; his father, Mike, said, "I think it's just a lot of talk. He would never do something like this." Kayla said she spoke with his brother after the charges were made public, and that Paul "said he's sorry about everything he's done."

Daniel Cowart

Daniel Cowart is of English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

descent and was raised in Bells, Tennessee

Tennessee

, where he was also often preoccupied with computers. He never had any problems with the law prior to his arrest with Schlesselman. Cowart attended Crockett County High School until 2006, but did not graduate. Cowart applied for Jackson State Community College

Jackson State Community College

Jackson State Community College is a publicly-supported community college located in Jackson, Tennessee and operated under the auspices of the Tennessee Board of Regents. The college offers a range of two-year associate degrees in arts, science and applied-science programs...

to study computers but, although his family believed he was indeed attending the school, he never provided documentation or pursued other steps to enroll there. Cowart moved to Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

in the spring of 2007 to live with friends he met on the Internet, but he was unable to find work and returned to Bells after one month to live with his grandparents. Before his move to Texas, Cowart worked at a Bells grocery store called the Bells Market Place for one year until May 2007 before moving to Texas for a brief time. Cowart worked and got along with several minority co-workers, who later expressed shock at his eventual arrest. Mitchell Twitty, a black former co-worker, said of Cowart, "He treated me like we were best friends. I never, ever heard him make a racist remark." Twitty said Cowart tended to keep to himself and at times acted "maybe a little strange." Other co-workers described him as hard-working and friendly, but said he did not have many friends. One family friend thought he was intelligent and full of potential: "I always saw him as a doctor or lawyer, or even a senator. He even had the potential to become what Obama is, running for president."

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cowart belonged to Supreme White Alliance, an organization which overtly describes itself as racist on its website; Cowart could be seen in a photo on the group's website celebrating the birthday of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

with other white power skinheads. On the group's social networking site, Cowart described himself as "easygoing and easy to get along with, as long as you are white!" Cowart was allegedly kicked out of the group sometime prior to his arrest. The club's president, Steve Edwards of Central City

Central City, Kentucky

Central City is a city in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,893 at the 2000 census. It is also the largest city in the county and the principal community in the Central City Micropolitan Statistical Area which includes all of Muhlenberg County and the communities...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, resigned due to the negative press following Cowart's arrest. Although Edwards acknowledged Cowart's membership, he said the group had no part in the plan, and claimed that the media exaggerated Cowart's connection to the group.

Trials

A grand jury indicted Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart on November 5 2008 on federal charges of threatening to kill and inflict bodily harm upon a major presidential candidate, conspiracy, interstate unlawful transportation of an unregistered firearm, interstate transportation of a firearm with the intent to commit a felony, transporting a short-barreled shotgun across state lines without a license and unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun. Cowart was also charged with damaging religious property and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. On November 6, Schlesselman and Cowart plead not guilty before a federal magistrate in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

. The two were placed into federal custody without bail. The charges carry a maximum punishment of 50 years in prison and $540,000 in fines.

At the request of federal authorities, the duo were placed on lockdown in their Obion County, Tennessee jail cell for their own protection against the other inmates. The two men can leave their cell for only one hour to watch television or use the phone; authorities said they had caused no problems during their time in the jail.

Cowart's lawyer argued in a November 13 petition that the grand jury was racially stacked against him because it included only two white members, while "21 were African-American or of another race or races." Cowart's attorney argued his indictment should be dismissed because jury could not "under the most modest constitutional scrutiny...be considered fair, impartial and unprejudiced." In February 2009, a federal judge granted Schlesselman and Cowart limited access to court records on the grand jury selection and gave them permission to question procedures for selecting jurors. However, the duo's defense teams were not allowed to challenge the resulting racial makeup of the actual jury. Also in February 2009, Schlesselman's lawyer asked the court to dismiss statements he previously gave police and evidence that he contended was wrongfully seized during searches of his home and another residence. Judge J. Daniel Breen

J. Daniel Breen

of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

refused this request in April. Schlesselman's counsel argued his assassination threat charges should be dropped because he said the alleged comments were made while in custody, so he could not have carried them out and they were not a "true threat." Judge Breen rejected that argument in March 2009.

The prosecution asked for two separate trials, which were expected to take place in Jackson, Tennessee

Jackson, Tennessee

Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...

, the area where the alleged crimes occurred.

Paul Schlesselman pled guilty to two counts of the indictment against him plus one count of an information on January 14, 2010, with an agreed-upon sentence of ten years. Daniel Cowart pled guilty to eight of the nine counts in the superseding indictment on March 29, 2010. On April 15, 2010, Judge Breen sentenced Schlesselman to 10 years in federal prison. With a posted release date of July 9, 2017, Schlesselman is serving in the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Yazoo City with Federal Bureau of Prisons

Federal Bureau of Prisons

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...

register number 22539-076. Judge Breen sentenced Cowart to 14 years in prison on October 22. The U.S. Justice Department said that Cowart could have been sentenced to a maximum 75 years, and Cowart was originally to be sentenced on August 13. Cowart is serving in the medium-security Williamsburg Federal Correctional Institution with register number 22540-076 and posted release date January 2, 2021.

External links

Barack Obama Faces 30 Death Threats a day, Stretching US Secret Service by Toby Harnden, Daily Telegraph, August 3, 2009

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