Robert DoggartNASHVILLE — A 2014 congressional candidate from Signal Mountain, who pleaded guilty last month to federal charges he planned to assault a Muslim enclave in New York he suspected of plotting a terrorist strike, once harbored similar concerns about an alleged “jihadist training camp” in Middle Tennessee.
But Robert “Bob” Doggart, at the time an independent candidate running in the 4th Congressional District, told the Times Free Press during a Sept. 15 interview that when he went to the community outside Dover, Tenn., he didn’t see much to be concerned about.
“I called the city and county mayor and went to Dover,” Doggart said during the interview in which he discussed himself and campaign issues. “Turns out they were not much of a threat. I put it on my blog and said, ‘Don’t be concerned about this one.'”
Doggart did voice alarm about Islamic extremists in general as well as the self-styled Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. He called the group “evil personified” and demanded it be “completely destroyed.”
The mustachioed 63-year-old mechanical engineer also voiced his intent to impeach President Obama if elected, calling him a “traitor” and “coward.” He claimed his former work as a senior engineering specialist at the Tennessee Valley Authority saved the federal utility substantial sums at its Watts Bar and Bellefonte nuclear plants.