Magistrate: Mosque Bombing Case Should Not Be Dismissed

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal magistrate is recommending that a judge decline to dismiss charges against an Illinois militia leader who was the alleged ringleader behind the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque.

Michael Hari's attorneys had argued that four counts against him should be dismissed, saying that Congress exceeded its authority when it enacted a statute that Hari is accused of violating.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer disagreed. A federal judge will now decide whether to adopt her recommendations.

Prosecutors allege Hari and two others drove from Clarence, Illinois, to bomb a mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota, in hopes of scaring Muslims into leaving the U.S. No one was injured in the August 2017 attack at Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center.

Hari is also charged in a failed bombing of a women's clinic in Illinois.