Exclusive: Donald Trump Followers Targeted by FBI as 2024 Election Nears

[mystery-ak]

Exclusive: Donald Trump Followers Targeted by FBI as 2024 Election Nears
By William M. Arkin On 10/04/23 at 5:00 AM EDT

The federal government believes that the threat of violence and major civil disturbances around the 2024 U.S. presidential election is so great that it has quietly created a new category of extremists that it seeks to track and counter: Donald Trump's army of MAGA followers.

The challenge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the primary federal agency charged with law enforcement, is to pursue and prevent what it calls domestic terrorism without direct reference to political parties or affiliations—even though the vast majority of its current "anti-government" investigations are of Trump supporters, according to classified data obtained by Newsweek.

"The FBI is in an almost impossible position," says a current FBI official, who requested anonymity to discuss highly sensitive internal matters. The official said that the FBI is intent on stopping domestic terrorism and any repeat of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. But the Bureau must also preserve the Constitutional right of all Americans to campaign, speak freely and protest the government. By focusing on former president Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters, the official said, the Bureau runs the risk of provoking the very anti-government activists that the terrorism agencies hope to counter.

"Especially at a time when the White House is facing Congressional Republican opposition claiming that the Biden administration has 'weaponized' the Bureau against the right wing, it has to tread very carefully," says the official.

more
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/10/13/exclusive-fbi-targets-trump-followers-2024-election-nears-1831836.html

[Right_in_Virginia]

FTA

But the FBI went further in October 2022 when it created a new subcategory—"AGAAVE-Other"—of those who were a threat but do not fit into its anarchist, militia or Sovereign Citizen groups. Introduced without any announcement, and reported here for the first time, the new classification is officially defined as "domestic violent extremists who cite anti-government or anti-authority motivations for violence or criminal activity not otherwise defined, such as individuals motivated by a desire to commit violence against those with a real or perceived association with a specific political party or faction of a specific political party."

It was a subtle change, little noticed, but a gigantic departure for the Bureau. Trump and his army of supporters were acknowledged as a distinct category of domestic violent extremists, even as the FBI was saying publicly that political views were never part of its criteria to investigate or prevent domestic terrorism. Where the FBI sees threats is also plain from the way it categorizes them—a system which on the surface is designed to appear nonpartisan. This shifted subtly days after the events of January 6 when it comes to what the Bureau calls AGAAVE.

[Right_in_Virginia]

And, according to FBI data obtained by Newsweek, 31 percent of its investigations now relate to AGAAVEs and 60 percent of all investigations include cases categorized as AGAAVE and "civil unrest"—marking a significant shift away from investigations associated with race-related causes or armed militias.

Drilling further into the individual cases behind the numbers, nearly two-thirds of the FBI's current investigations are focused on Trump supporters and others suspected of violating what the FBI calls "anti-riot" laws.

[Right_in_Virginia]

[Right_in_Virginia]

IMO, this article should matter more than Hillary Clinton's latest drunken rant. 

[Fishrrman]

Thanks for posting the image, RinVa.

It was right on when it first appeared on the net a few years ago.

It's STILL right on.

[jafo2010]

As the Gestapo was ended, so too the FBI must be shut down.  If they are busy going after parents, and now Republicans for their beliefs, they are no longer performing a vital need to this country.

I say end the FBI, CIA, NSA, and half a dozen other agencies now.  Restructure all of it with greater controls on the REPLACEMENT agencies so that they do not become more powerful than elected officials. 

THIS COUNTRY WOULD NOT SKIP A SINGLE BEAT!

[unite for individuality]

"The FBI is in an almost impossible position," says a current FBI official, who requested anonymity to discuss highly sensitive internal matters. The official said that the FBI is intent on stopping domestic terrorism and any repeat of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. But the Bureau must also preserve the Constitutional right of all Americans to campaign, speak freely and protest the government. By focusing on former president Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters, the official said, the Bureau runs the risk of provoking the very anti-government activists that the terrorism agencies hope to counter.

That claim is a complete lie!
The fact is, proven by video evidence,
the FBI helped CARRY OUT the false flag attack on the Capitol on January 6!

[LMAO]

As the Gestapo was ended, so too the FBI must be shut down.  If they are busy going after parents, and now Republicans for their beliefs, they are no longer performing a vital need to this country.

Or, at the very least, a thorough cleansing and cultural change in the FBI

[Smokin Joe]

That claim is a complete lie!
The fact is, proven by video evidence,
the FBI helped CARRY OUT the false flag attack on the Capitol on January 6!

QFT

And having their dogs barking up the wrong tree, that of patriotic Americans and caring parents, following the lead of the SPLC in all things on the Right, will set us up for the next 9/11.

That, if and when it occurs because the intelligence agencies have been busy covering Democrats' asses and attacking any who question the criminal activity in this administration, will eclipse any 'horror' over a protest led and encouraged (by the FBI and other LEAs) to go overboard in Washington D.C. on January 6th, 2021 in the absence of reasonable and oft requested security.

[LMAO]

 

[the OlLine Rebel]

FTA

Yet Endless Riots Nationwide is not a problem.  Not insurrection.  BTW, I was calling those outrageous riots insurrections before it was cool on Jan 6.

[240B]

This is why the Military can no longer get recruits to volunteer. The dropout, tattooed, young criminals they are targeting these days have no interest in a structured military environment. And the straight Christian patriotic America youth who have traditionally joined, now view the government as the enemy of the people (and justifiably so).

Essentially, the FBI, CIA, NSA, DHS, and government in general, put targets on the very people who were their biggest supporters decades ago. All to get revenge on Donald Trump for overturning the tables of the political money changers.

[Fishrrman]

Re RinVa's graphic above:

As true as it gets...!

[jmyrlefuller]

If he's "in the way," he's done a horrible job doing it.

[Kamaji]

If he's "in the way," he's done a horrible job doing it.

[Smokin Joe]

Right. He's tied up innumerable investigators in agencies familiar and obscure all moving with the sole purpose of keeping him from running for office. Even Congress has been diverted from their usual occupation (spending gobs of money we don't have on stuff we might not need and countries who hate our guts) to 'investigating' his alleged past sins, along with judiciaries in a number of jurisdictions taking time off from tossing violent felons back onto the streets to pursue convictions on violations of misread laws. There has been an enormous amount of legal creativity tied up twisting code to try to find something that would snag Trump like a hangnail on silk. Of course, all that was optional and overblown, at least so far, when you consider that in over seven years of deep-dive investigating the pursuers have come up with little to prosecute.

Had, however, those resources been devoted to pursuing any 200 people picked at random, I'd wager half of them would have been in prison by now, if only on obscure technicalities and offenses so obscure they'd never before been prosecuted in that contest, if at all.

So, the statement that he is in the way is credible, whether you are fond of him or not.