Johnson told the United States Secret Service he rented the Hyatt hotel room at Adolf 's request and that he believed " without a doubt " that Adolf came to Denver to kill Obama . According to a police affidavit , " Johnson said the only reason for such killing would be because Obama is black . " During an August 25 interview with KCNC-TV , a CBS owned-and-operated television station in Denver , Johnson first denied being personally involved with the plot and , when asked whether he felt the men had serious plans to go through with the assassination , he said , " Looking back at it , I do n't want to say yes , but I do n't want to say no . " Eventually , however , he admitted the other two men had planned a killing when he said , " Yeah , they were here to do that , to assassinate him ... it 's about as hard for me to swallow as it is for you to understand . " Johnson said the plan was for Adolf to , " shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a rifle sighted at 750 yards " . Johnson said the shooting was to take place during Obama 's acceptance speech on August 28 at the Democratic National Convention in INVESCO Field at Mile High . Johnson told the station , " He do n't belong in political office . Blacks do n't belong in political office . He ought to be shot . " Johnson said Adolf previously made comments about killing any African American who ran for president : " He made a comment in the past . I ca n't honestly tell you how long ago in the past , that he did n't believe a black should be the leader of this country . " According to Johnson , Adolf said he was already wanted for other crimes , so it " would n't matter if he killed Obama " . Johnson also claimed Adolf said he would never be taken alive and wanted to " go down in a blaze of glory " . Law enforcement sources told KCNC-TV that one of the suspects " was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama . He responded in the affirmative . " Johnson said Gartrell came to Denver to help Adolf execute the plan , and Gartrell later admitted to police that in talking about Obama , they referred to " shooting on a grassy knoll , " a reference to the assassination of John F. Kennedy . An arrest warrant read , " Adolf said that he wanted to kill Obama and additionally stated that he would specifically use a sniper rifle and high powered scope , and find high ground to set up and shoot Obama . " However , Johnson also told the reporter he came to the conclusion that there was an assassination plot planned only after being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation multiple times , adding , “ I told them I had no idea there was a plot , a plan , a conspiracy or anything like that ... When the feds came and laid out everything on the table and how it looked , I was in agreement that they could have been up here to do something like that . " Johnson later rejected additional media interview requests
Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
Barack Obama assassination plot in Denver