FBI Monitored Multiple Hate Groups In Idaho
The arrest of 31 Patriot Front members, including the white-nationalist group’s leader Thomas Rousseau, for allegedly conspiring to assault an Idaho LGBTQ event was a big leap in the evolution of alt-right hate groups escalating planned mass violent actions against LGBTQ populations and gatherings.
A new report in Rolling Stone shows that the arrests in Coeur d’Alene, ID on June 11 were a product of the FBI’s monitoring of Patriot Front, and that the agency has been monitoring multiple similar xenophobic hate groups over the last year.
Coeur d’Alene Plot Unraveled
According to the report, the FBI monitored and shared details of Patriot Front activities with Idaho law enforcement as far back as August of last year. Those included data on increasing acts of vandalism in Coeur d’Alene specifically.
Complaints about Patriot Front posters and stickers promoting the white-nationalist organization rolled in from residents of the city at that time. The FBI and local police updated each other as the propaganda campaign continued, trying to identify individuals that posted the material.
“We need to catch these people. Disgusting,” said Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer in an email exchange with law enforcement obtained by nonprofit organization Property of the People.
Law enforcement continued its efforts n the lead-up to the North Idaho Pride Alliance (NIPA) event in Coeur d’Alene on June 11, with the FBI working with local police to track potential actions from Patriot Front and plan a response.
The group’s plot was dismantled, working from information in an anonymous tip leading local police to intervene. They arrested 31 similarly dressed, masked and armed men well along in their plan for an attack on the LGBTQ participants at a pride celebration, piloted by a U-Haul truck.
In addition to the Patriot Front, both the Proud Boys and the Panhandle Patriots, an alt-right biker group local to northern Idaho, issued threats toward the NIPA event and attempted to mobilized individuals to disrupt the event.
“They [FBI] are actively providing information to local law enforcement so they can intercede to ensure the health and safety of others,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told Rolling Stone. “This is not unusual.”
More Than Just Patriot Front
Those communications between law enforcement and government officials also revealed that Patriot Front hasn’t been the only hate group whose anti-LGBTQ activities have been tracked. In addition to the Patriot Front, both the Proud Boys and the Panhandle Patriots, an alt-right biker group local to northern Idaho, issued threats toward the NIPA event and attempted to mobilized individuals to disrupt the event.
According to the report, Proud Boys chapters in the area spread word of the NIPA event, using anti-LGBTQ rhetoric (“groomers”) in those messages. The communications became even more frequent in the weeks before the event.
The Panhandle Patriots popped up in relation to the Proud Boys’ communications blitz, with the group threatening to attack a Pride parade in Idaho Falls, ID scheduled for June 25, according to an email from local law enforcement referencing an FBI tip. One Panhandle Patriots member allegedly said, “If gays want a war, we’ll give them a war,” per the email. The group ultimately did not follow through on those threats.
According to NIPA organizers, the Coeur d’Alene event “was a great success,
According to NIPA organizers, the Coeur d’Alene event “was a great success,” with roughly 2,000 people in attendance, many of which weren’t even aware of the Patriot Front arrests until seeing news reports. “The energy that was felt throughout the venue was overwhelmingly positive and full of love and connection,” Jessica Mahuron, NIPA outreach director, told The Spokesman-Review last week. “It was safe, even given some of the challenges on the fringes of our event and sometimes interfering in our event.”
Though the Pride event didn’t experience violence or major disruption, Mahuron noted that the tactics and hateful rhetoric of the various hate groups that organized and motivated others to participate in such actions deserve serious attention. “It’s something that a lot of different agencies in the community need to have a conversation about: Where things go from here,” Mahuron said. “I personally would like for us to see the hope that is in our story, about a small community organization that faced enormous challenges that are not normal for even a Pride organization to experience.”
Idaho LGBTQ: Previously on Towleroad
Image via North Idaho Pride Alliance
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