Why the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago feels like a shift in the tectonic legal plates

From MSNBC.com by Glenn Kirschner,

 A legal barrier of sorts has been broken: The FBI obtained and executed a search warrant on the home of a former president of the United States. This represents the kind of maiden legal voyage by the Department of Justice that has been prompted by the conduct of Donald J. Trump.

There are few things we know — and much we don’t know — about Monday’s search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home. Let’s start with what we do know.

First, the decision to request a search warrant was undoubtedly vetted through the uppermost ranks of the Justice Department, likely all the way through Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Second, a federal judge authorized this search. When the FBI, an agency within the Justice Department, decides that a search warrant should be pursued as part of a criminal investigation, agents will draft and swear to the truthfulness and accuracy of an affidavit in support of a search warrant. That sworn affidavit will include evidence the agents believe satisfies the burden of proof for warrants to be issued: probable cause.

Whereas precisely defining what evidence satisfies the probable cause standard is challenging, we know it lies somewhere between “reasonable articulable suspicion,” the standard set by the Supreme Court for an officer to “stop and frisk” an individual, and a preponderance of the evidence, that is, more likely than not. Importantly, the preponderance of the evidence standard is higher than the probable cause standard (which is the standard to issue search warrants, arrest warrants and grand jury indictments).

An FBI agent submits an affidavit in support of a search warrant to federal prosecutors for review. As the chief of the homicide section in the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office, I reviewed countless affidavits to determine whether they contained adequate evidence of probable cause. If I determined they did, I signed the search warrant application paperwork, and the agent was then permitted to meet with the judge to formally apply for the warrant. However, if I determined the affidavit contained insufficient evidence of probable cause, I would inform the agent that additional evidence would be necessary before I would authorize the warrant application. So in a very real sense, prosecutors put their names and reputations on the line when making the weighty decisions to approve applications for search warrants.

Once given the go-ahead by a federal prosecutor, the FBI agent presents the application for the search warrant to a federal judge. Judges often will ask follow-up questions about the evidence contained in the affidavit. I imagine the judge who reviewed a search warrant application for the home of a former president having more questions than usual. Although the legal standard doesn’t change based on the nature of the place to be searched, because the request was to search presidential property, I suspect the agents and prosecutors had very strong evidence, likely well above probable cause.

It’s clear that the judge agreed with the evidentiary assessments of both the agent and the prosecutor that there was reason to believe there was evidence of a crime at Mar-a-Lago. Hence, the judge authorized law enforcement agents to conduct the search.

This beat-by-beat breakdown of what goes into obtaining a search warrant is important to combat the disinformation already being put out by Trump. He issued a statement Monday, the content of which ranges from misleading to comical. He says the “raid” on his “beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago” was “unannounced.” First, it wasn’t a raid. It was a court-authorized search warrant. As for it being “unannounced,” every search warrant is unannounced, so the occupants don’t have an opportunity to move or destroy evidence. I’ll leave his assertion that his home is “beautiful” to the eye of the beholder.

Trump then absurdly compares a court-authorized search warrant to the Watergate break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

What do we not know? We don’t know what agents were looking for. There is some reporting that this search warrant is related to Trump’s unauthorized removal of government documents and records from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. This makes some intuitive sense given the location of the search. But consider: The National Archives reportedly retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago in January and had been negotiating with Trump for months before that for the return of those records. So, law enforcement authorities have known about Trump’s possible misconduct in this regard for a long time. Why seek search warrants for improperly retained documents now?

It may be because the documents are classified and raise national security concerns. If the lengthy negotiations with the National Archives did not result in Trump relinquishing the documents, it seems imminently reasonable, indeed necessary, for the FBI to obtain them via a search warrant.

Moreover, if a crime has been committed involving the removal, retention or concealment of government records, it could have serious consequences for those involved. There have not been any arrests or indictments of anyone regarding documents taken to Mar-a-Lago, but if anyone is charged with and convicted of concealment or removal of government records, part of the authorized punishment includes “forfeit[ing] his office and be[ing] disqualified from holding any office under the United States,” pursuant to 18 United States Code, section 2071.

Some might say that it would be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump himself “removed” or “concealed” the documents. Indeed, it is hard to envision Trump himself packing up boxes as he was leaving the White House before Joe Biden’s inauguration. But here is where Trump’s every statement and press release is potentially useful evidence for federal prosecutors. In Trump’s Aug. 8 missive, he says of FBI agents, “They even broke into my safe!” In the event illegally concealed government documents were found in “his” safe and there’s an indictment that follows, then this Trump admission will be quite helpful at trial. In the long run, Trump may prove to be his own worst enemy.

Even if the Mar-a-Lago search warrant is “only” about Trump illegally possessing government documents, if feels like a shift in the tectonic legal plates. With Garland’s Justice Department reaching the conclusion that it’s time to begin using search warrants as part of its criminal investigation of a former president, it seems that things may be snowballing in the direction of accountability, and maybe even justice.

Meltdown in stupid town

 I  admit I'm a big fan of wingnut Twitter because when wingnut Twitter gets angry and starts lashing out, they let their hypocrisy fly. From the self-hate queen, Candace Ownes, to mutant manchild Dan Bongino, they're screaming about how this country is becoming a banana republic because their beloved Orange Dummy has his lair raided by the FBI. They forget that Orange Dummy wanted AG Bill Barr to indict Vice President Biden weeks before the election. The idea goes back further about Trump wanting his political rivals locked up.

I suspect driving the fear and rage from the right is that the guy they're defending has a history of snitching on other criminals as a get out of jail or reduced penalty card. There are probably some documents that point to other high-ranking Republican officials knowing criminal wrongdoing, and that scares them. Between the Roe decision and Republican government overreach, and President Biden and the Democrats racking up the Ws, Republicans don't need to have their former president looking like the two-bit crime boss he is.

And if Republicans think threatening retaliation is going to boost their falling chances of winning back the house, I don't know how. If you follow me on Twitter, I've been saying this since January there's no red wave, and what happened to the Orange Dummy last night is more of that. The voters who are angry about what happened to the Orange Dummy last night are already voting Nazi in the fall.

My prediction is when the more shit is revealed, the more it's going to damage the Republican Party.

Kavanaugh drinking buddy Mark Judge’s college girlfriend gives sworn affidavit after FBI refuses to contact her

SARAH K. BURRIS via Raw Story

The FBI is continuing its work into the allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as the Friday deadline approaches. One person that has information is Mark Judge’s ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Rasor.

According to Rasor, the FBI still has yet to reach out to her, so she gave a sworn affidavit and released it publicly so that the information could be available to anyone on the Senate Judicial Committee.

The affidavit makes 14 major points to outline her story.

“I first met Mark Judge in or around the fall of 1986 while we were both students at Catholic University,” it read. “We engaged in a serious romantic relationship for approximately two years beginning in 1986 through 1988. We dated exclusively during much of that time period and attempted to reunite several times in the months afterward until I moved to New York from Washington, D.C.”

She continued, saying that while at the university she spent a lot of time “with Mark’s friends from Georgetown Prep and attended a couple of social gatherings at which they were present.”

She said that she did meet Brett Kavanaugh at a few social gatherings in and around 1987.

“At the parties, Brett and Mark attended during this period there was frequent and widespread alcohol consumption,” she said. “In or around 1988 in the context of the conversation we had about how we lost our virginities. Mark told me in a voice that seemed to convey a degree of shame about an incident that had occurred a few years prior where he and several other boys from Georgetown Prep took turns having sex with a woman who was drunk.”

She said in the affidavit that it was Judge’s “perception that the sexual activity was consensual.”

To her recollection, she believes Mark was sober while telling her this.

“After this initial conversation, Mark and I never discussed this again,” she continued. “Mark did not share with me any names of other individuals involved in this incident and I do not have any information to suggest one way or another that Brett was one of them. Mark and I broke up toward the end of 1988. I last spoke with Mark in or around 2013. We met for lunch at Georgetown University to catch up, and I brought my son.”

She swore under oath that her affidavit was true to the best of her knowledge.

Rasor is one of very few who has knowledge about these incidents.

Watch MSNBC host Rachel Maddow describe it below:

Christine Blasey Ford has not been contacted about FBI investigation into Kavanaugh allegations

LUKE BARNES VIA Think Progress

On the heels of reports that the FBI is pushing to wrap up its investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, lawyers representing his most prominent accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, said they are still waiting to hear from investigators.

Citing sources, NBC News reported Tuesday that federal agents would not interview Ford, who also goes by Dr. Blasey professionally, because the White House reportedly felt that Ford’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee had already enough.

In response, Ford’s lawyers excoriated the FBI in a letter, saying they have heard nothing from the agency regarding their offer for an interview.

“We also sent [the FBI] a series of emails and letters in which we identified witnesses and evidence that would likely assist the FBI in its investigation into Mr. Kavanaugh’s sexual assault of Dr. Ford and asked you to forward them to the supervisory agent,” the letter from Michael Bromwich and Debra Katz read. “Despite these efforts, we have received no response from anyone involved in this investigation, and no response to our offer for Dr. Ford to be interviewed.”

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Professor Blasey Ford’s attorneys write to the FBI

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The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the FBI probe could conclude as early as Tuesday or Wednesday — several days ahead of the deadline — but will not be released to the public.

On Monday the White House authorized the FBI to conduct a broader review of the sexual misconduct claim against Brett Kavanaugh, with sources telling CBS Newsthat they can interview anyone deemed necessary. Donald Trump had seemingly confirmed this over the weekend, tweeting, “I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate.”

So far, however, the FBI has only interviewed at least four potential witnesses, whereas Senate Democrats have asked them to interview at least two dozen. Julie Swetnick, the third woman to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, will not be interviewed, despite repeated requests from Swetnick’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti.

“It is critically important that the public be informed of any hidden effort to limit the scope of the FBI investigation,” Avenatti said previously. “The scope should be unlimited and the FBI should be tasked with determining whether an allegation is credible—as they do every day in this country.”

Meanwhile, attorneys representing Deborah Ramirez, Kavanaugh’s second accuser who said that he exposed himself to her at a college party, said they’d provided investigators with more than 20 names of people who could corroborate her story. However, investigators have reportedly not reached out to any of them. Similarly, one unnamed classmate of Kavanaugh said the investigation into the Judge’s past was far too restrictive and was just being used as an alibi for Republicans to support the nomination.

The latest frustration about the FBI investigation comes on the same day The New York Times unearthed letters from Kavanaugh’s high school days showing he was a much harder drinker than he previously admitted, noting on one page that whoever arrived first at a rented house in Ocean City, Maryland, for a weeklong getaway should “warn the neighbors that we’re loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us.”

According to the Times, one of Kavanaugh’s classmates has reached out to the FBI because they believe Kavanaugh had not been previously forthright about the extent of his drinking.

Looks Like Someone's in Trouble

JOSH MARSHALL/TPM

According to a piece out in tomorrow's Times, the feds are moving rapidly to investigate the charges leveled by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. And they appear to have found witnesses who recall Zimmer describing the threats at the time they were made ...

Federal authorities in New Jersey have interviewed several witnesses who said the mayor of Hoboken told them in May about a state official’s threat to withhold hurricane recovery funds if the mayor did not support a development project favored by the governor, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday.

The statements by the witnesses, two of whom are aides to the mayor, Dawn Zimmer, support the account she gave to federal prosecutors on Sunday, and the interviews suggest that prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have moved swiftly to investigate her accusations.

What's notable about this new story is that it ties directly, in person, to the state's Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno. Whatever we may speculate about Christie's knowledge of the bridge closure, there's no direct evidence tying him to the action or proving he knew about it. This is very different.
Of course, Guadagno denies the charges. Here's Brian Murphy's run-down of Zimmer's claim.

GOP Congressman: Obama’s ‘Political Correctness’ On Islam Led To Boston Bombings

By Hayes Brown/Think Progress

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) suggested on Friday that the FBI was unable to ask deceased Boston marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev about Islam during its 2011 interview with him due to President Obama’s “political correctness,” thus allowing the bombing to take place.

Gohmert said on the House floor that the Obama administration has prevented intelligence officials from discussing Islam. “It was in that 9/11 commission report, before this administration took over and implemented political correctness,” he said, arguing the FBI’s training manuals were “systematically purged” in 2011 to conform to Obama’s worldview.

Obama’s whitewashing of Islam, Gohmert hinted, allowed the Tsarnaev brothers to slip through the fingers of the FBI and set off bombs in Boston:

GOHMERT: But what kind of interview must that have been of the guy who was going to blow off arms and legs and kill a child and who had dreams of killing so many more. What kind of interview must that have been when you can’t use the word jihad, you can’t talk about his Muslim faith? Did they even bring up Tamerlan’s Muslim faith in that interview? [...] Is it any wonder that the FBI came away from their interviews and said, ‘We don’t find any problems?’ Well, I guess not. [...] What kind of interviews must those have been when you can’t use the terms that let you get to the bottom of what may be a plot to kill people down the road? There’s no problem in the Justice Department, there is a problem with leadership that will not let them do their job. And it needs to change.

The facts don’t line up with Gohmert’s claims, however. In 2011 it was revealed that FBI’s counterterrorism training courses were full of misleading views about Islam, including thatmainstream Muslims are “violent” and “radical.” In response to the revelation, the FBI purged its training documents of all that mischaracterized all Muslims as being especially prone to terrorism.

When it comes to questioning Tsarnaev, the FSB — Russia’s domestic intelligence service —reached out to the United States in 2011 regarding its fears that he — an ethnic Chechen — was a security threat. In response, the FBI launched a three-month investigation into Tsarnaev, including interviews with him, his family, and his communications and internet usage. Following that review, the FBI determined there wasn’t enough evidence to continue to monitor Tsarnaev’s activities. When the FBI reported that to Russia in Oct. 2011, requesting further information about why the FSB believed Tsarnaev was a threat, Russia reportedly never responded.

Gohmert has proved no stranger to promoting wild theories related to Islam during his time in Congress. At various times, the Texan has stated that wide gun-ownership is needed to protect against Sharia law, that Obama intervened in Libya to allow al Qaeda to spread, and that the president is seeking to take credit for starting a new Ottoman Empire. Interfaith groups have called upon Gohmert in the past to drop his Islamophobia, seemingly to no effect.

FBI steps in as attacks on Georgia women’s clinics escalate

By David Ferguson/Raw Story

A series of break-ins and arson incidents have workers and patients at women’s health clinics in Atlanta on “heightened alert,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The FBI and ATF are conducting a joint investigation of what appears to be a sharp escalation in a campaign to intimidate and threaten providers of women’s health care, including abortion services.

In recent weeks, clinics specializing in women’s health services have been the scene of three burglaries and now two fires. The first fire took place at a private OB/GYN office in the north Atlanta suburb of Gwinnett on Sunday, the second just Wednesday at the Alpha Group GYN offices, a large and bustling facility in Marietta.

Raw Story asked Jaime Chandra, Communications Manager for Atlanta’s Feminist Women’s Health Center, if she believes that the attacks are related to Georgia’s recent passage of stringent new anti-abortion measures. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” she said, “I would love to believe that it’s not related and that we live in a civil society, but, no, I don’t think it’s coincidental.”

Chandra pointed out that all of the doctors targeted so far are part of a group of OB GYN physicians who spoke out against the state’s controversial HB 954, a so-called “fetal pain” bill that placed tight new restrictions on late-term abortions and was passed into law on March 29. Under the new rules, physicians and other health care workers who provide abortion services outside the confines of the law are subject to criminal prosecution.

It was after the physicians’ group had made their resistance to the law known that the first break-in occurred. On Sunday, March 4, the North Atlanta Women’s Specialists’ offices were burglarized by a thief who stole two laptop computers that contained employees’ names and personal information. A second break-in took place onSaturday, March 17, when a suspect broke into the offices of The Georgia Obstetrical & Gynecological Society, again stealing laptop computers with staff members’ personal information.

Dr. David Byck, president of the Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society told The Suwannee Patch, “The police officers said that the break-in looked well planned, and it’s frightening that the personal and family information of our membership has been stolen. There cannot be a good intent behind such a crime.”

The first fire took place at around 4:30 a.m. Sunday at the offices of Atlanta Gynecology and Obstetrics. A front window of the clinic was broken and police dogs indicated the presence of an “incendiary substance.”

Witnesses to Wednesday’s fire at Alpha Group GYN say that two men entered the building and went upstairs, then left just before the fire was discovered. The fire started on the offices’ fourth floor, damaging records and equipment, but no one was hurt.

The FBI has released a security camera photo of a suspect from a bank near the clinic. He is described as a male between 5-feet-10-inches in height and 6-feet-one-inch. On Wednesday, he wore khaki pants and a blue polo shirt. He was driving a gray Mercury Marquis with tinted windows and what the police called “large, chrome wheels.”

Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, told the Journal-Constitution that the crimes are alarming because of their rapid escalation. “It’s not a good sign when one arson follows another, after following several burglaries. Something clearly is escalating there and we’re hoping that the strong law enforcement so far can stop it.” The National Abortion Federation and law enforcement agencies have issued warnings to staff and patients at women’s health centers in and around Atlanta to exercise reasonable caution and to be aware of their surroundings at all times.

When asked if she fears for her safety, FWHC’s Chandra said that she and her organization have been very impressed by the coordinated response by law enforcement, who are on the premises at all times, in both marked and unmarked cars. Threats, she said, aren’t really something she concentrates on. They’re just another part of doing business.

“We’re not afraid,” she said, “We’re confident about the safety of our patients and staff. The most important thing is for us to serve the women who need our services and to treat them with dignity and respect.”

Watch this report on the attacks, which aired Thursday, May 24, embedded below via Atlanta’s Fox 5 News:

U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and FDLE to probe Trayvon Martin killing

BY FRANCES ROBLES/Miami herald 

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI will step in to investigate the killing of Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin, the U.S. Department of Justice announced late Monday.

The announcement coincided with a statement from Florida Gov. Rick Scott asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to offer “appropriate resources” in the case.

The federal and state agencies are intervening in what attorneys call a botched investigation into the killing of the Michael Krop Senior High School student, who was killed Feb. 26 in Sanford, a town of 55,000 just north of Orlando. The teen, on suspension from school, was staying at his father’s girlfriend’s house when he stepped out to 7-Eleven to buy candy and iced tea.

A neighborhood watch volunteer with a long history of calling in everything from open garage doors to “suspicious characters” called police to say he spotted someone who looked drugged, was walking too slowly in the rain, and appeared to be looking at people’s houses. Zimmerman sounded alarmed, because the stranger had his hand in his waistband and had something in his other hand.

The unarmed teen carried Skittles and Arizona iced tea.

Volunteer George Zimmerman, 28, told police he had stepped out of his truck to check the name of the street he was on when Trayvon jumped him from behind and attacked him, police said. He said he feared for his life and fired a semiautomatic handgun he was licensed to carry, because he feared for his life.

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” the Department said in a statement. “The department also is providing assistance to and cooperating with the state officials in their investigation into the incident. With all federal civil rights crimes, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person acted intentionally and with the specific intent to do something which the law forbids – the highest level of intent in criminal law.

“Negligence, recklessness, mistakes and accidents are not prosecutable under the federal criminal civil rights laws.”

From the start, Trayvon’s family accused Sanford Police of molding the investigation to fit Zimmerman’s account. Several witnesses said they heard cries that sounded like a boy wailing -- howling silenced by the crack of gunfire -- and were shocked to hear the police later portray the cries as Zimmerman’s. One witness said police ignored her repeated phone calls.

The police chief was accused of telling lies big and small in ways that shielded Zimmerman. The family hired attorneys who helped devise a national campaign to demand a federal investigation.

Members of Congress and prominent black clergy joined the chorus for a federal probe.

Police Chief Bill Lee told The Miami Herald last week that he’s comfortable that his investigators were fair and thorough.

“I can say very confidently we would welcome any outside entity that wants to come look at what we did,” Lee said last week. “They are welcome to come here and look at it. We have not done anything but conduct a fair and complete investigation.”

He dismissed accusations of irregularities and insisted that investigators found no probable cause to arrest Zimmerman, because there was no evidence to disprove his version of events.

The U.S. Community Relations Service will be in Sanford this week to meet with civil rights leaders, community leaders, and local law enforcement to address tension in the community, the Department of Justice announcement said.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/19/2703029/us-department-of-justice-fbi-and.html#storylink=cpy

FBI sees rising threat from ‘sovereign citizen’ movement

By Agence France-Presse

The FBI has said it is monitoring a growing extremist threat from “sovereign citizen” movements, and is targeting their activities to prevent a repeat of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Followers of “sovereign citizen” ideologies reject all government authority, refusing to pay taxes, not recognizing US currency, and sometimes engaging in acts of violence, FBI officials told reporters on Monday.

“They could be lone wolves, too,” said Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counter-terrorism division, who said it was the agency’s mission to “deter and detect” potential acts of “catastrophic violence.”

The worst act of domestic terrorism in US history was the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, which claimed the lives of 168 people and left a federal office building in ruins.

Its main perpetrator, Timothy McVeigh, was sentenced to death and executed in 2001.

The FBI said the “sovereign citizen” militants are distinguishable from other ultra-right extremists by their use of homemade license plates, documents and diplomatic credentials, as well as the terminology they use.

“The ideology itself promotes violence and encourages violence,” said special agent Casey Carty, who said the FBI had a duty to be proactive in dealing with the potential threat.

The number of convictions in “sovereign citizen” cases rose from 10 in 2009 to 18 in 2010 and another 18 last year.

“We want to focus on this particular threat,” said McArthur, adding that evidence of the alarming movement is found “all over the country.”

Confirmed: FBI probing News Corp. allegations

By Stephen C. Webster/Raw Story

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a probe into allegations that employees of News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, attempted to bribe police and hack the voicemails of American citizens killed on Sept. 11, 2001, according to a senior law enforcement officialwho spoke to the Associated Press.

Reached for comment by Raw Story, an FBI spokeswoman in New York confirmed the report, saying:  "We are aware of the allegations and are looking into it."

The probe will focus on whether News Corp. employees in the U.K. targeted the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack in their phone hacking schemes, which allegedly included an effort to bribe a former New York police officer.

News Corp. employees are also alleged to have bribed British police officers to help them hack high ranking U.K. officials, which would violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act if proven to be true.

News of the probe comes the same day British police arrested a former News Corp. executive in connection to the hacking schemes. There have been eight arrests so far.

Other targets of the company's British newspapers allegedly included former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the royal family, celebrities, a murder victim, the families of dead soldiers and the victims of terrorist attacks, among others.

The FBI's decision to open the probe was made after several Democratic Senators and a Republican Congressman from New York wrote letters to the bureau asking that they look into the matter.

The investigation will be run from the FBI's New York offices, The New York Times reported, and will draw on their cyber-crimes division and investigators who specialize in white collar offenses.

FBI Issues Warning About Threat From Yet Another Anti-Government Group With Ties To The Radical Right

By Lee Fang

The Associated Press reports that the FBI has issued an intelligence note warning police that an anti-government group’s call to remove dozens of sitting governors may encourage others to act out violently. The group, “Guardians of the Free Republics,” wants to “restore America” by dismantling parts of the government, according to its website. Governors receiving the threats include Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Jim Doyle (D-WI), Chet Culver (D-IA), Jim Gibbons (R-NV), among others.

While much of the rhetoric from the group resembles the style of patriot extremist organizations, their concerns seem to stem directly from economic anxiety. The group’s broadcasting affiliate, Republic Broadcasting Network, advertises survival kits, gold buying guides, and other hallmarks of a movement in America which believes that the country is heading towards economic collapse. The website also promotes tea party protests, calls for revolution, videos from Glenn Beck, and sympathetic articles about recent right-wing domestic terrorist activities, like the suicide attack on an IRS building in Austin earlier this year.

Guardians of the Free Republics’ call to dismantle the government has gained traction on right-wing tea party websites. The groups’ proclamation is posted on ResistNet, the popular tea party forum, as well as Tree of Liberty, a tea party forum known to have been frequented by users which supported Hutaree, the Christian militia recently arrested in Michigan.

One YouTube user, jonah70757, has enthusiastically posted links and audio broadcasts rallying support for Guardians of the Free Republics’ call for revolution. The user brandishes various weapons, seemingly in preparation for a violent revolution, and posts videos about militias, tea parties, and conspiracies about President Obama’s birth. Watch a ThinkProgress compilation of jonah70757’s videos:

A Department of Homeland Security report, ridiculed by Republican lawmakers last year, details that extended economic downturn with real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit could foster an environment for extremists to recruit new members who may not have been supportive of these causes in the past. Indeed, the New York Times reported last weekend that many of the tea party and other anti-government protesters have been “jolted into action by economic distress” and are themselves unemployed or facing underwater mortgages.

M.C.L Comment: I would like the gentleman in the video to provide proof that he's isn't crazy as hell.