CINCINNATI — A 20-year-old Ohio man charged with plotting an attack at the U.S. Capitol was ordered held without bond Friday after a federal magistrate concluded he was a danger to the community.
Christopher Lee Cornell appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Bowman in a brief detention hearing Friday afternoon. He was brought to the federal courthouse in downtown Cincinnati under tight security from the jail some 30 miles away where he’s been held since after his arrest Wednesday outside a gun shop.
Cornell planned to “wage jihad” by attacking the Capitol with pipe bombs and shooting government officials and employees, the FBI said in court documents.
“I feel that the danger to the community is such that I cannot order bond today,” Bowman said, noting that messages attributed by federal authorities to Cornell had him discussing extreme violence.