Obama Assassination Plot Investigated, No Credible Threat Found

***UPDATE 8/26, 6:30 PM***

Following the press conference, the Associated Press reports that the men were no "true" threat to Obama.

U.S. Attorney Troy Eid (EYED) describes the men as "meth heads" who weren't capable of such an attack.



The investigation was triggered after police in the Denver suburb of Aurora stopped a truck that was swerving erratically early Sunday. Police say they found two high-powered rifles, two wigs, camouflage clothing, a bulletproof vest and two walkie-talkies in the truck. They say they also found three IDs in other people's names and what they believe to be methamphetamine.



The three men arrested Sunday face drug and gun counts.

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strong>***UPDATE 8/26, 11 AM***

More details about the suspected plot to assassinate Obama come trickling in as the police arrest a fourth person in connection with the possible plan. The LA Times has the story.

We knew then that authorities in suburban Aurora had stopped a pickup truck for swerving between lanes early Sunday morning in what they thought was a routine drunk driving incident.

But in the rented vehicle of Tharin Gartrell, a 28-year-old convicted felon, they found two high-powered scoped rifles, ammunition, sighting scopes, radios, a cellphone, a bulletproof vest, wigs, drugs and fake IDs.

According to Brian Masss of Denver's KCNC Channel 4, under questioning Gartrell implicated two other men -- Nathan Johnson, who is 32, and Shawn Adolph, who is 33 -- and Johnson's girlfriend, Natasha Gromack. Johnson also reportedly confirmed the plot to FBI and Secret Service interrogators.

One of the men, Adolph, reportedly wore a ring with the Nazi swastika. He was injured when he jumped out of a hotel window fleeing Secret Service agents. All are now in custody on drug and weapons charges.

The US Attorney handling the case stated that there was never a credible threat against Obama, and will be holding a press conference today 4 PM Denver time (6 PM, EST). More details as they arrive.

***UPDATE*** The FBI is now investigating reports of a possible assassination plot against Barack Obama:

The FBI is looking into reports in Denver media outlets that a man under investigation for drug and weapons violations may have made threats against Barack Obama, officials said Monday.

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"It's premature to say that it was a valid threat or that these folks have the ability to carry it out," said a U.S. government official familiar with the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Law enforcement sources told CBS affiliate KCNC in Denver that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."

Obama will be in Denver this week to accept the Democratic nomination for president.

FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright confirmed the FBI was investigating the reports but declined to elaborate. The Joint Information Center - a command set up by Denver, state and federal authorities to field media inquiries during the Democratic convention - had no immediate comment.

***UPDATE*** The Denver Post reports that authorities will hold a press conference tomorrow to discuss the disruption of a possible Obama assassination plot:

Federal authorities have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon amid reports that a fortunate traffic stop by Aurora Police may have disrupted an assassination attempt against Barack Obama.

The Rocky Mountain News reports that police in Colorado are investigating a possible plot to assassinate Barack Obama:

Law enforcement authorities have arrested two men, and several law enforcement sources say the investigation is looking into whether the men intended to harm presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

According to multiple sources, Aurora police made a routine traffic stop Sunday morning at 2:38 a.m. The Secret Service says two rifles were found in the car along with methamphetamine. Another law enforcement source says he was told at least one of the rifles was a "sniper rifle."

A second source told CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass authorities told officers they are concerned they may have come upon a possible "assassination plot."

Comments

[Indeedwespeak]

Rifles with scope, bullet-proof vest, ammunition. These folks were not a threat? I guess that all assassins must fit the profile to a T, otherwise they are just simply unhappy, maladjusted, drug heads out on a hunting trip and the bullet proof vest was to protect these simple minds from those nasty varmints out in the countryside. I guess Hinckley with only a handgun would back then also be considered NOT a threat by these law enforcement bozos. To play it down is to wear the "I'm Stupid" sign around one's neck with pride, and having the good people of this country laughing at such stupidity---for the conclusion these clowns reached and the pride they take in having reached it. Talk about a shortage of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.There is also a shortage of brain power at the FBI and Denver police because this type of investigation wrap up is what someone from the bottom of the barrel would likely come up with.

Just one gun in the wrong hands is a threat in anyone's book. But I guess that I am wrong because there are obviously some people who think it is not.

[whozit]

Just high on meth so their story is not credible. Maybe they should be waterboarded to get the "real" story!

[harriscrl3]

I firmly believe that some things happen for a reason and if there was no evidence linking them to Obama assasination what this does hopefully is put folks on guard for Thursday night when he gives his speech. I consider it a sort of a warning sign.

Carol

[gage]

Secret Service and LEOs were already on guard and on high alert.

[barackobama4prez]

God please protect the O b a m a s. Amen.

[GravitonX]

God won't protect Obama, but a good security plan will.

Obama will need to commission a Special Presidential Security Division separate and superior to all existing law enforcement and services, when and if he becomes President.

[meanguy]

he could call it 'the democratic guard'...answerable to the president only

[danoj]

told ya just a couple rednecks high on meth with guns in the car.

[JJK]

When I read "real threat," I read "threat that they could have carried out successfully."

Over the 45 years since the Kennedy assassination and after the attempts on Ford and Reagan, the Secret Service has been continually upgrading its protection. Motorcades and events since 911 resemble armed military exercises more than they resemble anything else. The Secret Service today is as much concerned about a truck with fertilizer or plastique driven into the protectee's hotel or vehicle as it is with a lone sniper with a high powered rifle. Access to an event requires passing through magnetometers and body searches. Lines of sight are studied and covered.

If the Secret Service doesn't think it can secure a venue it tells the campaign. The agents are incredibly cooperative with making events "work' for the campaign, but in the end it's their job to judge whether they can secure the candidate. One of the most difficult decisions a campaign makes is the decision to put the candidate in a venue where the Secret Service says it will do everything it can, but can't guarantee the kind of security it would like.

All that is by way of saying that I imagine that Obama is now getting the top level of security that the Secret Service provides. The liklihood that a couple of yahoos with a rifle would get to a place where they could get an unprotected shot at him is very low. Impossible? No. But, very low. Yes.

[GravitonX]

Are you kidding me? You apparently know very little about high-powered rifles or the difficulty in securing an urban environment.

[CARTERJ]

Tell y'all one thing, though. If ugly was a crime, them three would be put away for life.

(Check out 'SquidBillies' on Cartoon Network Adult Swim late at night.)

Seriously, though, this situation is not funny one whit.

[njm50]

I feel this was a true threat, and denver is just trying to play it down. McVeigh must not have seem like a real threat. Mr. Byrd also thought three white guys in a pickup wasn't a threat. GOD COVER BARACK WITH YOUR PROTECTION.

[c3pachman]

If this wasn't a real threat and was just a couple of fringe guys driving around with camo and sniper rifles, the real question is how did they get a hotel room in Denver? If this was unplanned, that would have been impossible for a couple of meth'd up crackpots to do.

[kiddub]

What?

[frankobeans]

i always wondered how the republicans or people who didn't like john f kennedy felt back in 1963 when he got assassinated. i guess i will still be wondering how that felt.

[jakemayer]

um.. WTF frank?

are you suggesting you would like to know how that feels?

[barackobama4prez]

The USA is full of sick people.

[smag]

To "MeanGreenMachine". Is there proof or reports that suggest that this is even a real threat must less by a Republican? That is a slap at a lot of your fellow citizens without proof. I am concerned that there are too many folk running around loose that need a keeper. Whenever we have in this country someone in the Public arena such as Sen. Obama, We as a country need to be more vigilant than usual. I am no conspiracy nut but we have had too many of our leaders taken out over the years and that is a discrace. Agree or disagree with them on policy, NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE OUT ONE OF OUR LEADERS. It tears at the very fabric of our society. While John Kennedy or Robert Kennedy were not my heroes because of their (personal lives and their family ethos), their killers should have been executed on National TV. They were our leaders and as such part of our National Treasure.

[MeanGreenMachine]

If you think that there are not plots currently being hatched by nefarious Republican Nut Jobs as we speak, you have a tenuous grasp of reality at best.

Thank god they are incompetent bozos.

[shigeru]

My two cents - if it had been a rethug pres candidate or if the perpetrators were A-Rabs or lefties, the SS would have been all over this, the FBI would have jumped in, etc, etc. The right-wing terrorists get little attention - at least not from the current crowd in power. And we are so used to the murders of democratic leaders that they may not perceive it as a big deal, anyway.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Like HELL it's not a big deal. In fact, this independent is willing to wager that *if* someone takes a crack at Senator Obama and/or his family, the GOP will pay some Hell indeed from angry citizens putting two and two together and getting fifty, whether they're right or not. I am willing to wager that We The People as a whole are well and thoroughly up to the proverbial *here* with our best and brightest leaders being murdered before our eyes by the forces of authoritarian corporatism and hate.

I shudder to think what will erupt across this country if our country has yet another leader of real promise struck down by an assassin's bullet, and all of the "lone nut" evidence truthful or otherwise won't wash this time around, simply because IMHO far too many Americans simply do not give any credence to anything coming from the Bushevik White House and Congress these past eight years from Hell.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[meanguy]

ahhh, so, "leland r erickson, citizen"...without a shot being fired, you've already convicted a political party of assassination? does the tinfoil hat ever feel a bit tight?

[JadedAggie]

Seriously after what happened in Arkansas somebody is going to tell me that random wingnuts with guns can't succeed with their idiotic plots? People vastly overestimate the security of government officials apparently.

[grandhighwonko]

Timothy McVeigh was a meth head

[LibDrummer]

Rush limbaugh is a OXy head. He is the one that asked for this to happen on public radio.

[JaneEyrez]

I mean, it's not like they actually succeeded.

[MeanGreenMachine]

Typical Republicans....