The alleged plot unfolded over about a month as Bowie communicated with an FBI source posing as an ISIS facilitator, according to the affidavit. Beginning in mid-July, she told the source she wanted help making explosives and identified the Capitol as her target, saying she hoped to damage the building and kill lawmakers.

Bowie allegedly began scouting the Capitol in Albany soon afterward.

Investigators said she walked around the building on roughly five separate occasions between July 21 and Aug. 9, taking photographs and studying the surrounding area and security.

In one exchange, she told the FBI source she would make a point of having picnics near the Capitol and drinking coffee nearby so she could observe the building.

She allegedly told the source she wanted to destroy as much of the Capitol as possible and kill senators while they were meeting. She also discussed putting the device in a bag that would make her look like a food-delivery worker.

On Aug. 5, investigators say, Bowie went to a Home Depot in Rensselaer using $200 provided by one of the confidential sources and bought materials she believed would be used to build the bomb, including a large container of nails.

The next day, Bowie delivered DoorDash bags that she said could be used to conceal the device, according to the complaint.

READ THE AFFIDAVIT – 

On August 19, Bowie met again with the confidential sources and paid $150 for what she believed was a handgun, magazine and ammunition, investigators say. She was also shown an explosive device purportedly made from the materials she had purchased. Both the firearm and explosive device were inert.

Bowie was arrested on August 19 after leaving the meeting with the inert gun and device, according to the FBI. Agents said they found knives and a handwritten pledge of allegiance to ISIS on her.

In a press conference Thursday evening, Gov. Kathy Hochul said: "Political violence has no place in our state, and I believe this suspect should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"Earlier this year, amid a surge in political violence and threats against public officials, we took steps to strengthen security at the state Capitol and across state government because law enforcement intercepted this alleged plot early. There was never any active danger to our state capitol. And right now, there are no specific, credible threats against the Capitol."

In a statement, FBI Director Kash Patel praised the team that apprehended Bowie.

"This FBI is now built to act quickly with more precision than we ever have before. We have thousands of more personnel in the field, a rebuilt DSIC coordination hub to share intelligence, stronger partnerships with local law enforcement than in history, and more counterintelligence partnerships around the world than ever to find threats wherever they try to hide," he said in an X post. 

"For any individual who may be considering harming Americans in the future: know that we will find you."

WATCH:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the FBI for stopping an ISIS-inspired suspect before she could cause harm.

"We spoke with the FBI, and thank God they've apprehended and arrested this person who I would say was ISIS-inspired. They don't believe she's a member of ISIS, but she was ISIS-inspired," he said. "And this shows you the dangers of terrorism. We can always we must always be vigilant. This is a few weeks before 9/11, where all of us were in such pain because of what happened. And here is ISIS still at it, still trying to inspire people to do harm to us."

Bowie made her initial appearance Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart. Prosecutors argued that Bowie should be detained as a flight risk and a danger to the community and requested a detention hearing. 

Judge Stewart appointed the federal public defender’s office to represent Bowie and remanded her to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. No date for her next court appearance has been set.

The charge carries a statutory maximum prison term of 20 years, a fine of up to $250,000 and a lifetime of supervised release.