By Editor,Emma Richter,Melissa Koenig

Copyright dailymail

A domestic terrorist has confessed to trying to blow up a Nashville power plant with weapons of mass destruction in a neo-Nazi-inspired plot.

Skyler Philippi, 24, of Columbia, Tennessee, was arrested on November 4, 2024 for plotting to destroy the substation using explosives attached to a drone, prosecutors announced last year.

He has now pleaded guilty to his crimes and could face life in prison for the planned attack, which prosecutors say could have cut power to thousands of homes and critical facilities like hospitals.

Authorities said Philippi was trying to further his white supremacist goals and believed that blowing up the power plant would usher in a ‘New Age.’

On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice said he pleaded guilty to trying to blow up the plant, which he allegedly said would will go up ‘like a f***in’ Fourth of July firework.’

Prosecutors said he spoke with undercover agents about acquiring C-4 and building pipe bombs and even participated in a ‘Nordic ritual’ on the day of the planned attack, November 2, 2024.

The group later discussed making pipe bombs, with Philippi saying he purchased black powder to use in the explosives that he said was ‘guaranteed to take everything down’ and ‘destroy evidence.’

After his arrest, a creepy picture, released by the DoJ, shows Philippi wearing a skull mask as he and a devil mask-wearing associate posed with pipe bombs he had hoped to use in the vicious attack.

If the plot had been carried out, Philippi could have shut down power for thousands of American homes ‘and to critical facilities like hospitals,’ Assistant Director Donald Holstead of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division explained.

His sentencing is scheduled for January 8, 2025. Philippi faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

‘For months, Philippi planned what he had hoped would be a devastating attack on Nashville’s energy infrastructure. He acquired what he believed to be explosives, surveilled his target, and equipped a drone to attack an electrical substation,’ Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg stated.

‘Motivated by a violent ideology, Philippi wanted “to do something big.” Instead, the FBI disrupted his plans, and Philippi now awaits sentencing.

‘The National Security Division and the FBI will continue to protect our Nation’s critical infrastructure from would-be saboteurs.’

According to a criminal complaint, Philippi told an informant in June 2024 about his desire to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA facility in his hometown.

The following month, he told another person about the impact of attacking large interstate substations, saying it would ‘shock the system’ and cause other substations to malfunction.

Later, prosecutors say, Philippi told the informant and an undercover agent he had written a manifesto about his desire to attack ‘high tax cities or industrial areas to let the k***s lose money,’ using a derogatory word for Jewish people.

In that conversation, he also reportedly spoke about getting into a shooting with a black person from Louisville, Kentucky, and argued that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks ‘were an inside job organized by a Jewish person.’

Philippi went on to tell the informants he was previously affiliated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups: the Atomwaffen Division and the National Alliance.

The two groups have previously targeted racial minorities, the Jewish community, the LGBTQ+ community, the government, journalists and infrastructure.

During that conversation on August 7 of that year, prosecutors said Philippi once again brought up his plan of attacking nine power plants across the country to assist in accelerating the collapse of the American power grid.

By September, Philippi is said to have met with undercover agents to discuss his plans.

He said he had researched previous attacks on electric substations, and concluded that attacking it with guns would not be sufficient, the complaint said.

Instead, Philippi planned to use a drone with explosives attached to it, which he would fly to the substation.

Philippi also said he wanted to build the drone himself, adding the parts would ‘cost around $150’ and he could ‘3D print the [drone] body for pennies.’

He then asked the undercover agents to get the parts he needed, and showed them an open-source website with the locations of electric substations in the Nashville area.

‘I definitely want to hit Nashville, like 100 percent, I want to get Nashville,’ Philippi told the agents, per the complaint.

‘I also know Louisville pretty God d*** well, since I lived there.

‘I spent about five months scouting out every single place [power station] and even coming up with a game plan to hit as fast as I could,’ he added.

‘I had whole maps made, printed out on paper, to actually do that.’

Later that month, prosecutors said Philippi drove with undercover agents to an electric substation he had previously researched and targeted to conduct reconnaissance.

While driving, the undercover agents introduced him to a third undercover official who said he could provide explosives, and that agent agreed to provide ‘poor man’s C-4.’

The crew later discussed making pipe bombs, with Philippi saying he purchased black powder to use in the bombs.

During the reconnaissance mission, Philippi is said to have noted that certain components of the substation were flammable and attacking them ‘guaranteed to take everything down’ and ‘destroy evidence.’

‘Holy s***. This will go up like a f***in’ Fourth of July firework,’ the terrorist said.

He also spoke to undercover agents about operational security, telling them to dress as members of the clergy with fake glasses on the night of the planned attack and suggested they wear leather gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints and shoes that are too large.

Philippi also suggested they leave their smartphones behind on the night of the attack, rent a Toyota Prius to blend into a nearby neighborhood from where he planned to launch the drone and burn their clothes afterward.

Then on the day of the planned attack, Philippi and his undercover accomplices participated in a ‘Nordic ritual’ in which they recited a Nordic prayer and discussed the Norse God Odin.

From there, the crew got lunch and returned to a hotel, where one of the agents asked him what the attack meant to him.

He allegedly responded that ‘This is where the New Age begins’ and that it was ‘time to do something big’ that would be remembered ‘in the annals of history.’

In the lead-up to the planned attack, one of the undercover agents handed Philippi inactive C-4 and instructions on how to use it, and when he was taken into custody the drone was already powered up with the explosive device armed, prosecutors said.