FBI arrests a man who was preparing an attack on the NY Stock Exchange before Thanksgiving

The FBI arrested a man in Florida suspected of preparing a bomb attack on the New York Stock Exchange. The accused, Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, was arrested after confessing to an undercover agent that he "felt like Bin Laden" and that perpetrating the attack a week before Thanksgiving Day "would be very big" and "very easy."

As indicated by the U.S. Attorney's Office for South Florida, and contained in the court documents, investigators found in the suspect's home "bomb-making sketches, numerous watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronic devices." They also uncovered numerous Internet searches on how to build bombs.

The defendant wanted to "achieve a 'reboot' and/or 'reset' of the U.S. government."

The agents noted that "Mr. Yener's motivation for bombing the New York Stock Exchange was to get a 'reset' and/or 'reboot' of the U.S. government." The defendant himself explained to investigators that he was preparing an attack "like a small nuke went off" and that "everything outside the building will be wiped out" and "everything inside would be killed."

Yener,who ruled out joining ISIS in 2015 because he understood that the terrorist group would not help him achieve his personal goals.His end was to achieve a spectacular attack, with a message, beyond causing a massacre (for which he would have chosen a Walmart during the day) so he targeted the NY Stock Exchange: "There's one place that would be very easy.... the stock market, it would be a big hit. Tons of people would support it. They'd see it and think, man, this guy makes sense, we're getting [profanity] ripped off. So that's perfect."

The FBI's investigation of Yener began in February, when federal officials received a tip that he was storing schematics from which bombs could be made in an unlocked warehouse.