FBI Arrests Ohio Man for Plot to Attack U.S. Capitol

The Justice Department announced Wednesday a Cincinnati-area man has been arrested in connection to a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol and kill government officials.

"Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, OH, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence," the Justice Department said in a statement.

The criminal complaint against Cornell includes messages he sent in an instant message to an FBI informant. "I believe that we should wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything," Cornell wrote to the FBI informant. "We already go a thumbs up from the Brothers over there." Cornell also mentioned Anwar al-Awlaki, the al-Qaida-affiliated U.S. citizen who was killed in a drone strike in 2011.

During an in-person meeting between Cornell and the informant, Cornell "indicated that he considered the members of Congress as enemies and that he intended to conduct an attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.," the Justice Department complaint reads.

Here is the full criminal complaint: