News

Report: Oprah, Sears Tower targeted in terror plot

Oprah Winfrey talks to her audience before introducing Pastor Rob Bell, one of Time's most influential people in the world in 2011. (Akili-Casundria Ramsess/Special to the AJC)
Oprah Winfrey talks to her audience before introducing Pastor Rob Bell, one of Time's most influential people in the world in 2011. (Akili-Casundria Ramsess/Special to the AJC)
Dec 1, 2014

Oprah Winfrey, her Chicago-based Harpo Studios and the Willis Tower ("Sears Tower") were the targets of a failed terrorist plot in 2009, according to a new Judicial Watch report.

The alleged plot was the work of a "narco-terror ring" based in El Paso, Texas, according to JW, which describes itself as a "a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation."

JW, drawing from anonymous sources, reports: "The alleged bombers targeted Ms. Winfrey’s Harpo Studios because they resented her popularity and power, while the tower was selected because of its obvious landmark status. The bomb plot itself, planned in 2009, was inspired by militant Islamist hatred of American military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to law enforcement and other sources interviewed by Judicial Watch."

JW reports that the plot, which allegedly involved a "U-Haul-style trailer, as well as a delivery-style 'step van'" and C-4 explosives, was foiled by federal authorities but has never been subsequently publicized.

The Department of Justice and the FBI did not return their requests for comment.

More Stories