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.
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.
The arrest came after an 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.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.