Jason Fantino
of the former spokesperson
for the far right Oath Keepers Group.
He quit the group several years ago.
He testified
before the January six committee
and warned of extremist groups
using political violence.
And Jason,
I appreciate your time tonight.
You know, I share
just some of the rhetoric
that we've seen from political figures
right on Twitter or spoken today.
You have been watching
that as well as other violent
rhetoric online around this indictment.
I know it feels heightened to you.
What have you been seeing
and hearing
from extremist
and fringe groups that concerns you?
Well, really
what concerns me more
than, say, the organized groups like the
the proud boys who seem to have shifted
their focus to,
you know,
drag events
and protesting LGBTQ plus events.
I'm more concerned with the rhetoric
and the messaging
that is kind of on this
fringe around
the national organized groups.
You know, that's
that's who made up the majority of
the folks who turned out
for the January six insurrection.
And really,
that's really the most dangerous
aspect of this because
the national groups are
fairly good at self-policing
and trying to keep people that may not be
you know, that may be more apt
to take violent action
kind of out of the area.
But, you know,
this seems to be more
of an organic gathering of
people that Trump
has been messaging directly to.
And we saw that start
with the choosing of Waco
for the kickoff of the campaign.
So, yes, you know, I'm very concerned.
So you just heard Shimon
talking about the situation tonight.
And things could change, right?
That could change.
They could make decisions in the justice
even now.
But currently,
the police chief was pretty adamant.
And you saw the tone in his voice
when he was questioned.
They don't have a plan
to separate or place a barrier right now
between any of the groups,
whether it be protesters
or Trump supporters or anyone else.
Does that in and of itself,
this kind of lack of a hard barrier of
any sort add to your concern?
Well, I mean,
it's a building and they're preparing to
to defend it.
You know, a federal courthouse
is somewhat secure to begin with.
You know,
I think we're going to definitely see
a lot of scuffling,
maybe some fistfights
break out in the crowd,
you know, and maybe they're there.
They're not tipping their hand right now
as to what they're doing.
But I think law enforcement
certainly has learned some of the lessons
from January six
and and ignoring the warnings
that are out there.
So I certainly hope that's the case.
Yes, absolutely.
Now, I mentioned Andy Biggs,
but I wanted to give you
another Republican Congressman,
Clay Higgins,
tweeting another tweet
that some have seen as a not very subtle
in this case called action,
referring to Trump as our protest.
That stands for real
president of the United States.
Now, I just want to notice
that Congressman Higgins
is an Army veteran,
and he's using military style
language, telling
Trump supporters to, quote, buckle up.
When you hear that,
you hear Andy
Biggs talking about war
and eye for an eye.
What?
It's not just what message does that say?
Does the fact that it is coming
from elected
representatives in any way
open the door even wider
or allow and encourage violence even more
or not?
Absolutely.
And this was part
of the playbook that Stewart Rhodes
employed with, you know,
working with local officials,
grooming people
to to run for local office,
because it gives a sense of legitimacy
and authority to to some of the more
violent rhetoric and extremist
views out there.
And these words are more dangerous than
than, you know,
bringing weapons to something
because they inspire. They go on.
We it's hard to counteract
words calling for violent action.
It's much harder
to defend against that than it is
to, you know,
harden up
a building like a federal courthouse.
So we and
no one has really been held to account.
We've seen this type of rhetoric
coming up to January six.
We're just now
beginning to see some sort of
legal account being held.
But largely politicians
that have been using
this rhetoric
to get elected and increase their
their following and
whatnot, they really haven't been held
to account
for the actions that they are inspiring.
Jason, thank you very much.
I appreciate your time.
Thank you.
Hopefully a sobering
wake up call for Bernie who need it.