Midday Roundup: FBI thwarts alleged attack inspired by ISIS

Motive and means? A 20-year-old Ohio man plotted a lone-wolf terror attack on the U.S. Capitol and purchased the guns to carry it out, authorities claim. FBI agents arrested Christopher Lee Cornell on Wednesday after watching him for months. The FBI claims Cornell converted to Islam and was inspired by ISIS and other jihadi propaganda. The alleged plot involved detonating pipe bombs in the U.S. Capitol and then shooting people as they fled the explosions. Cornell’s father, John Cornell, told CNN his unemployed son did not have the means to orchestrate such an attack. The elder Cornell accused the FBI of baiting his son using a confidential informant and pushing him into making the plan.

Fighting back. The House voted Wednesday to defund the president’s executive action on immigration. President Barack Obama’s unilateral move would temporarily legalize millions of immigrants in the country illegally. Lawmakers voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but attached measures that would effectively nix the president’s executive action. In a speech, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the president admitted on 22 separate occasions he had no authority to take the action he eventually took. The House vote, split along party lines, may go nowhere in the end. Even if the bill passes in the Senate, Obama said he’ll have his veto pen ready.

Show of support. Supporters of fired Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran packed Georgia’s capitol rotunda to protest what they called religious persecution by the city. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed suspended and then fired Cochran after learning he had self-published a book that described homosexuality as a perversion. At Tuesday’s rally, Cochran said his termination sent this message to Bible-believing Christians, “You better keep your mouth shut or you’ll be fired.” The executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention said Cochran’s firing, “is a matter of religious liberty.” Reed said Cochran was fired for poor judgement, not for his faith, and for leaving the city vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits.

Religious liberty. Pope Francis spoke out earlier today against religious insults such as those printed in Charlie Hebdo, the French publication whose offices were attacked last week. The pope said freedom of expression and freedom of religion are fundamental human rights, but “you can’t make a toy out of the religions of others.” Francis condemned the attacks in Paris and all religiously motivated violence: “Let’s consider our own history. How many wars of religion have we had? Even we were sinners, but you can’t kill in the name of God. That is an aberration.”

Crime and punishment. Oklahoma is scheduled to resume using the lethal injection today after a delay following what some people called a botched execution. Clayton D. Lockett’s execution took an abnormally long time and sparked a lengthy inquiry into the state’s execution procedures. The state retrained, retooled, and received clearance from federal courts to resume carrying out the death penalty. Inmate Charles F. Warner is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. today. He was sentenced to death for the sexual assault and murder of an 11-month-old girl in 1997. Johnny Shane Kormody also is scheduled for execution today for murdering a man and raping his wife in a 1993 home invasion.

WORLD Radio’s Steve Coleman and Mary Reichard contributed to this report.