Created: 8/26/2008 7:09:38 AM 
Denver -- Aurora, Colorado police say they now have three men in custody in connection with a possible plot to kill Obama.
One man arrested in connection with a possible plot to assassinate Barack Obama says his friend just didn't want a black President.
Nathan Johnson 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." In a rambling jailhouse interview, Nathan Johnson, an admitted methamphetamine user, first denied there was any plan to kill Obama, then conceded there may have been. More than anything, he insists he had nothing to do with it. Instead he blamed 2 friends also in custody. They are 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell, whose arrest following a traffic stop sparked the investigation, and Shawn Robert Adolf, who jumped out of a 6th-floor hotel window to evade capture. According to the FBI, Johnson told authorities the men planned to use a high-powered rifle to shoot Obama when the candidate gave his acceptance speech Thursday night.
A reporter asked Johnson, "did Shawn hate black people enough that he'd want to kill somebody who was running for president?"
Johnson answered, "he made a comment in the past. I can't honestly tell you how long ago in the past, that he didn't believe a black should be the leader of this country."
The three men, along with another women, remain in custody on drugs and weapons charges. Authorities are struggling to figure out just how serious a threat this may have been. One official said the threat could be valid or it could just be "nothing but a bunch of knuckleheads."
A U.S. attorney says they're "absolutely confident" there's no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic Convention, or the people of Colorado. A news conference is planned Tuesday.
View the video to the right to see a jailhouse interview with suspect Nathan Johnson.
