Skinheads held over Obama death plot

"They further stated that their final act of violence would be to attempt to kill/assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama," he said.

The men planned to wear white tuxedos and top hats during the assassination attempt, which would have involved driving as fast as they could towards Obama and shooting him from the windows of the car.

They planned their first house robbery for October 22 but ended up leaving without breaking in. Instead they bought ski masks, food and rope to use in their robbery attempts.

They were arrested later that day and officials unsealed the court docket on Monday.

They wrote racially motivated words and symbols on the exterior of Cowart's vehicle, including a Swastika and the numbers "14" and "88" on the hood of the car.

ATF special agent in charge James Cavanaugh said "H" is the eighth letter of the alphabet and 88 stood for "Heil Hitler."

"The U.S. Secret Service takes all threats against presidential candidates seriously and is actively investigating the allegations," said Richard Harlow, special agent in charge of the Secret Service-Memphis Field Office. "The Secret Service does not comment on this type of investigation."

(Editing by John O'Callaghan)