The FBI has officially opened up a new category of extremists to counter: Trump supporters.
According to an exclusive bombshell from Newsweek on Wednesday, the FBI is shifting its attention from violent deterrence to a focus on Republican voters ahead of the 2024 election. In a June report to Congress, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned of the danger from “DVEs” or “domestic violent extremists” escalating as the nation moves closer to the next election.
“The threats listed,” Newsweek reported, “are all clearly associated with America’s right and in particular with Trump’s MAGA supporters.”
“For the first time, such groups could be so labeled because of their politics,” the paper wrote. “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.”
The FBI denied in a statement to the magazine that the bureau was targeting Republicans over Democrats.
“These violent extremists have targeted both Republican and Democratic members of Congress,” the FBI said.
According to Newsweek, the bureau is concerned about a repeat of the turmoil at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. Accounting of the carnage from the prior summer, however, shows the nationwide riots in the two-week aftermath of George Floyd’s death cost an estimated 66 times than the hours-long clash between police and protestors at the Capitol. The same effort to deter violent far-left extremists in the wake
