The federal government is reportedly concerned about the potential for violence and significant civil disturbances surrounding the upcoming election, and taking a drastic measure to quell it. In an exclusive report today from Newsweek, it has been revealed that the FBI is closely monitoring supporters of former President Donald Trump as the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches.
As a result, a new category of extremists has been discreetly established, focusing on the MAGA (Make America Great Again) followers of Donald Trump.
A current FBI official, who wished to remain unnamed due to the delicate nature of the topic, commented, “The FBI is in an almost impossible position.” The person elaborated that the FBI’s primary goal is to prevent domestic terrorism and any recurrence of the events of January 6, 2021, at the Capitol
However, a significant portion of their current “anti-government” investigations pertains to Trump supporters, as per classified data acquired by Newsweek.
The anonymous official stated that while the FBI aims to prevent any recurrence of events like the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, they must also ensure the preservation of the Constitutional rights of all Americans, including the right to campaign, speak freely, and protest the government.
“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,” the official said.
In a statement to Newsweek, the FBI articulated, “The threat posed by domestic violent extremists is persistent, evolving, and deadly. The FBI’s goal is to detect and stop terrorist attacks, and our focus is on potential criminal violations, violence and threats of violence. Anti-government or anti-authority violent extremism is one category of domestic terrorism, as well as one of the FBI’s top threat priorities.”
The FBI further explained, “We are committed to protecting the safety and constitutional rights of all Americans and will never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity, including a person’s political beliefs or affiliations.”
Newsweek reported:
Newsweek spoke to over a dozen current or former government officials who specialize in terrorism in a three-month investigation to understand the current domestic-security landscape and to evaluate what President Joe Biden’s administration is doing about what it calls domestic terrorism. Most requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly, were reluctant to stray into partisan politics or feared the repercussions of speaking frankly.
Newsweek has also reviewed secret FBI and Department of Homeland Security data that track incidents, threats, investigations and cases to try to build a better picture. While experts agree that the current partisan environment is charged and uniquely dangerous (with the threat not only of violence but, in the most extreme scenarios, possibly civil war), many also question whether “terrorism” is the most effective way to describe the problem, or that the methods of counterterrorism developed over the past decade in response to Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups constitute the most fruitful way to craft domestic solutions…
From the president down, the Biden administration has presented Trump and MAGA as an existential threat to American democracy and talked up the risk of domestic terrorism and violence associated with the 2024 election campaign.
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