Obama Assassination Plot Thwarted
Federal authorities announced Monday that they had broken up a neo-Nazi plot to assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama. The plan involved two white supremacists, and authorities say Obama was never in any danger.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Like so many elections, this fall's campaign has stirred intense emotions. But it's rare to find a plot as extreme as one described by prosecutors in Tennessee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
They say a pair of neo-Nazis planned to rob a gun store. One was 20 years old, the other 18. They allegedly wanted to kill exactly 88 African-Americans and decapitate exactly 14 more.
INSKEEP: Numbers that allegedly mean something to white supremacists. As a final act, authorities say the men wanted to kill Barack Obama in a drive-by shooting. And they allegedly agreed to commit these acts while dressed in white tuxedos and top hats.
MONTAGNE: Officials say they took the alleged plots seriously, but they add that the Democratic presidential candidate was never in any real danger. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
