US Capitol plot suspect pleads guilty

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio man has pleaded guilty to charges in what federal authorities say was a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in support of the Islamic State group.

Twenty-two-year-old Christopher Lee Cornell pleaded guilty Monday morning in federal court in Cincinnati. He has been in jail since FBI agents arrested him in January 2015 outside a suburban gun shop where they said he had just bought two rifles and ammunition.

Cornell pleaded guilty in an agreement with prosecutors to charges including attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees, offering material support to a terrorist organization and a firearms-related count.

U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith scheduled sentencing for Oct. 31. Prosecutors say they will ask for a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

Cornell had previously pleaded not guilty and his father claimed he was misled by “a snitch.”