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The defendant, Cesar A. Sayoc Jr., a fervent Trump supporter, sent homemade bombs created with PVC pipe and glass shards to prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, as well as to CNN and actor Robert DeNiro, authorities said.
The court’s docket entry states only that there is a plea scheduled for Thursday, but it does not indicate what charges Sayoc will plead guilty to. He was indicted in November on 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and interstate transportation of an explosive.
Ten of the counts carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, and under federal law, if he were convicted of a certain combination of those counts, the judge would be required to give him a life sentence. A possible plea deal might center on whether Sayoc could plead guilty to counts that leave the judge the discretion to sentence him to less time.
Sayoc’s federal public defenders and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on his expected plea Friday.
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Sayoc, 56, was arrested on Oct. 26 outside an auto-parts store near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he appeared to be living in a white van covered with images and slogans condemning liberals that are often found on fringe, right-wing social media accounts. One was an image of Clinton under crosshairs.
His social media feeds were an electronic version of his van. On Twitter and Facebook, he railed against Obama and Oprah Winfrey with misspelled racial epithets, and threatened former Vice President Joe Biden. He also praised Trump and conservative causes.
The arrest came after a fast-moving investigation and manhunt, as investigators tried to discover the source of 16 pipe bombs sent through the mail. Authorities said they were able to pull Sayoc’s fingerprints from two bomb packages and found his DNA on components of 10 of the improvised bombs.
The indictment against Sayoc only charges him in connection with five devices that were sent to victims in Westchester County and Manhattan, which are both part of the Southern District of New York.
In addition to Clinton and DeNiro, those packages were sent to John Brennan, a former CIA director; James Clapper, a former director of national intelligence; and George Soros, a billionaire Democratic donor.
Federal prosecutors have called Sayoc’s actions “a domestic terrorist attack.”
Sayoc’s trial had been scheduled for July. Last fall, one of his lawyers asked the judge, Jed Rakoff of U.S. District Court, for additional time to investigate the case to determine whether, among other things, there was the possibility of a plea agreement.
It is possible that Sayoc’s plea could fall through. A defendant preparing to plead can change his mind up to the last minute and opt to go to trial.
Before his arrest, Sayoc held himself out as an entrepreneur and bodybuilder who promoted exotic-dance shows in southern Florida. But he was also an angry, bankrupt loner who often lived out of his van, held far-right political views and was prone to racist and sexist tirades, according to court documents and people who knew him.
A guilty plea by Sayoc would resolve one of the major terrorism prosecutions pending in Manhattan. In another case, Judge Vernon Broderick on Tuesday granted a defense request for a six-month delay in the trial of Sayfullo Saipov, scheduling it for April 13, 2020.
Saipov was charged with using a pickup truck to kill eight people on a Manhattan bike path in 2017. He has pleaded not guilty, and if he is convicted, he could face the death penalty.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.