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American gets 30 years in prison for plotting ISIS assasination of Obama

A man who planned to attack Capitol Hill and assassinate Obama in the name of ISIS has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Christopher Lee Cornell was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison for plotting to attack Capitol Hill in support of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group. A federal judge also ordered lifetime probation for Cornell after his release from prison.

Cornell, 22, of Ohio, filed notice of a planned appeal on Tuesday.

Cornell pleaded guilty in August to charges including attempted murder of US officials and employees in a plot to attack the Capitol during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

The FBI arrested Cornell in January 2015. His attorneys say online propaganda and a confidential informant influenced him.

Cornell, also known as Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, planned to set off multiple pipe bombs on Capitol Hill and then kill anyone who survived the attack. The FBI said that he had purchased two semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition.

“I believe we should just wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything,” Cornell told an FBI informant. “I believe that we should meet up and make our own group alliance with the Islamic State here and plan operations ourselves.” He later told the informant that he considered members of Congress to be enemies.

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The FBI is pursuing at least 900 active ISIS terror-related investigations, spread over all 50 states in the US, FBI Director James Comey stated last November.

By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.