This week, an update featuring some of the following:
- More details emerge in Grizzly Scouts Boogaloo cases
- Neo-Nazi provocateurs plead guilty to gun charges
- J6 arrests near 500
- Bundy followers threaten another standoff
Grizzly Scouts wanted to force Trump to enact Insurrection Act in reaction, months before Oath Keepers leader begged the president to empower his group through it
The Grizzly Scouts, a northern California-based Boogaloo cell of which last year’s Boogaloo shooter Steven Carillo was a member, had apparently been planning to escalate more violence. New court records indicate Carillo said he wanted to attempt a “cartel style” attack. Members of the group wanted to ratchet up the violence and try to blame the left for the actions, which included discussions of how to dress like and impersonate ‘antifa’.
Another member of the Grizzly Scouts cell, Jessie Alexander Rush, said that Trump invoking the Insurrection Act would be the group’s “sign” and when he would be ready to use his training. “Rush”, as he was known within his group’s comms, also held trainings near his home.
The Insurrection Act was the same legal notion that Oath Keepers lead Stewart Rhodes asked Trump to invoke to ‘call up the militia’, of which he seemed to have believed his group would be a primary target for enacting martial law and getting rid of the enemies of Trump in the US government.
Remaining two Base members plead guilty
The remaining two Neo-Nazis planning to escalate the Richmond, Virginia Lobby Day in January 2020 pleaded guilty to gun charges this last week. The two members of the neo-Nazi group the Base, Patrik Jordan Matthews and Brian Mark Lemley, were arrested in Maryland on federal charges en route to the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s planned event. A third arrestee, William Garfield Bilbrough, pleaded guilty in December on charges related to his helping Matthews illegally enter the US from Canada the year before. Lemley faces what might be the longest prison sentence related to his seven charges, a maximum of 70 years behind bars. No terror charges were brought against any of the three.
J6 arrests near 500
As of late last week, the FBI has arrested 465 people related to the J6 storming of the US Capitol Building. Investigations continue to expand and court documents detail the specifics of the event, including calls to bring guns to DC. In some of the newest charges, III% militia members were also charged.
Other updates
Daniel Thompson, a Michigan man who sent death threats to officials has pleaded guilty to charges related to these threats. He will serve two years for three counts.
Ammon Bundy’s “uber for militias” group, the People’s Rights Organization, has said that they were “going to turn on the water and have a standoff”. This is regarding the group’s occupation in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where they are attempting to translate farmers’ frustration with irrigation limits into another right-wing demonstration. IREHR has a great series of reports on this most recent development, which can be read here.
The New Jersey election primaries are underway. This includes Edward Durfree, an Oath Keeper, who is running for an Assembly seat in a very blue district. Durfree is running unopposed in the GOP primary and has the support of the county’s GOP body. He filed in April and did “security” for the J6 event, and still claims that the violence of the day was perpetrated by ‘antifa’. Durfree is the northern New Jersey leader for the Oath Keepers. The state’s governor, Phil Murphy, has refused to denounce Durfree’s candidacy when asked.
Further reading:
- On the Idaho GOP far-right insurgency (Newsweek)
- On the demographic trends of the insurrection (Chicago Maroon)