Christopher Lee Cornell

How does your son become the suspect in a horrifying plot to spray bullets into a crowd at the Capitol Building?

John Cornell still can’t believe his 20-year-old son, Christopher Lee Cornell, was arrested in an FBI raid on allegations that he bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition, he told NBC News on Thursday.

“His best friend is his kitty cat,” the father said. “He’s never even fired a gun before.”

Cornell said his son was manipulated by an FBI “snitch” and never would have gone through such an attack.

“I think a lot of it was coercion. I think he got coerced,” Cornell said. “No way he had the money to carry out any kind of terrorist attack.”

The father said his son recently converted to Islam.

By Steve Neavling

The front page story Thursday quoted a member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula about the timing of the attacks.

“Your decision to grant anonymity to a spokesperson for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula so he could clarify the role of his group in assassinating innocents, including a wounded police officer, and distinguish it from the assassination of other innocents in Paris in the name of another group of terrorists, is both mystifying and disgusting,” Mr. Comey said in a letter to The Times.

He added: “I fear you have lost your way and urge you to reconsider allowing your newspaper to be used by those who have murdered so many and work every day to murder more.”

Michael Slackman, the international managing editor for The New York Times, stood behind the decision to use anonymity.

“The individual quoted anonymously has for several weeks provided accurate insight and information into the thinking and actions of AQAP,” Mr. Slackman said. “The material was generally central to the news, in one case noting that Al Qaeda and the Islamic State had not jointly planned the attacks in Paris.”

By Steve Neavling

An FBI agent’s ability to steal heroin from an evidence room without being detected suspicions for at least 14 months raises serious questions about the bureau’s checks and balances, the Washington Post reports.

By his own admission, Mathew Lowry repeatedly stole heroin from the evidence room at the FBI’s field office in Washington to support his addiction. The thefts have sabotaged drug cases, so far leading to the dismissal of 28 defendants.

The thefts didn’t catch up with Lowry until his colleagues found him incoherent next to his disabled bureau car.

The FBI has responded with an internal review to determine how better to handle evidence.

“It’s shocking that there was such little oversight,” said Steven H. Levin, a former federal prosecutor. “It’s something you would expect to see on a made-for-TV movie. . . . You’re thinking, there is no way that could ever happen. And that’s what happened.”

Lowry, 33, has been suspended and is undergoing drug treatment while the case remains under criminal investigation.

By Steve Neavling

 A former Border Patrol agent who laundered drug money was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday, the Arizona Daily Star. 

Raimundo Borjas was convicted of money laundering after trying to conceal $61,600 in deposits. 

After he’s released from prison, Borjas was ordered to spend three years of supervision and to avoid all law enforcement jobs.

Borjas was fired in October 2014.

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