Officers confronted the Patriot Front group on Saturday.
There they are on their knees and arrested,
dozens were piled in the back of a moving truck.
Police say they were traveling to a pride event
where they were hoping to set off a riot.
>> That's right over the weekend, there was the arrest of more than two dozen
members of the White Supremacist group known as Patriot Front near Idaho,
near an Idaho pride event specifically.
And one of them was identified as its founder.
His name is Ryan Russo.
So what were these dweebs up to?
Well, luckily they got caught before they could cause any damage, but
they were on their way to a pride event likely to riot and possibly hurt people.
The police chief denied rumors that the arrest had stemmed from the work
of informants that was kinda floating around the internet over the weekend.
Saying that this actually all came from a concerned citizen and
good samaritan who reported some suspicious activity.
Here's what happened.
So the 31 Patriot Front members were arrested with riot gear
after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U haul
like a little army at a hotel parking lot in Coeur d'Alene.
So, police found riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and
shields inside the van after pulling it over near a park where
the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding a pride event in the park,
pride in the park event.
I'm just imagining what would happen if a good samaritan didn't report it,
right, because they're showing up with riot gear.
Obviously, these are white nationalists, white supremacists,
these are people who are showing up to cause some damage.
There's been some question as to why this would take place in Idaho of all places,
of all places.
Well, Idaho has some deep roots in white supremacy, it's also a little easier to,
kind of get through and go to these events without much push back.
And so, if you go to a big pride event in let's say,
Los Angeles or New York, there might be more security,
there might be a bigger crowd, which would make it more difficult for
31 people to show up and cause a lot of damage.
So, I'm guessing part of the reason why they showed up in Idaho is because they
thought they could do it, get away with it and cause some serious damage.
>> Well, the good news is they were wrong.
So, congrats to Idaho cops, great job.
So, he's all you guys are anti cops, no, doesn't it depend on what they're doing.
And so if cops protected this pride event or any event because they got a tip,
they acted on it right away, they weren't complacent.
It wasn't like kenosha were there high fiving right wingers and
white supremacists going to the event with weapons and stuff,
and giving them water, so, is there any way we can help you?
No in this case, the cops were terrific and probably spared a lot of damage here,
so now, but I'm gonna make an important distinction here, if they were going to
the event, just to counter protest, they shouldn't be arrested, okay.
Now, as it turns out, and
it's just the first 24 hours basically since that they've been discovered.
So more information will come out later.
So based on what we know now, based on reporting from NBC News and
others, it looks like they had smoke grenades and batons with them.
And this is very important that the police have a document saying that they were
gonna use the smoke grenades.
Yes, and I wanna get to that document right now actually, and it's
Coeur d'Alene, so I know how to pronounce it, I just got a little shaky about it.
So, Coeur d'Alene Idaho, this is where the pride event was taking place.
So, an apparent leader of the group had a seven page document outlining
an operational plan in extensive detail.
The police chief Lee White read brief sections that detailed how
smoke was to be used, a column forming on the outside of the park,
proceeding inward until barriers to approach are met.
And once an appropriate amount of confrontational dynamic has been
established the column will disengage and head to Sherman and
Sherman is the avenue that runs through the center of downtown Coeur d'Alene.
Yeah, and some of them apparently had concealed weapons.
Again, we'll see if that's true as things unfold but
that's some of the reporting happening now.
So guys, this is part of that memo is super important.
So they were not just going to counter protest and
sit on the other side of the street.
>> No, they were not.
>> They were definitely gonna go engage, they were gonna throw the smoke grenades
and they were gonna, this is the important part, they were gonna cause
a confrontation and then pretend like they were defending themselves.
>> And then- >> And that's basically the strategy.
>> 100%, that's what I was gonna say.
So they're gonna show up, they're gonna cause a confrontation.
They're gonna cause some sort of reaction or response and
then who knows what they would have done.
Again, we don't know the entirety or
the full extent of weaponry they had with them.
The story is still developing as we speak, the investigation is ongoing.
But if they ended up killing someone or multiple people during this event,
then they can turn around and say, well, we were defending ourselves,
we were defending ourselves.
And of course these are people coming from different states,
trying to cause trouble at a pride event.
You don't like the pride event.
What I don't understand is, why can't you just leave people alone.
>> 100% >> What impact do they have on your lives?
Let's put up the mug shots of these massive losers who apparently have so
much time on their hands and are so miserable.
They're desperately looking for scapegoats to explain their misery.
So they go out of their way, okay, these wanna be bad guys, showing up to
attempting to show up at a pride event and cause damage, hurt innocent people
who are just trying to celebrate, who are just trying to live their lives.
These are people have no negative impact on their lives whatsoever, but
they wanna whiten the ethno state, that's what they want.
>> I mean, how weak are you that you think, why don't we all get together,
have bunch of weapons and go attack defenseless people.
And that's supposed to prove you're tough?
No, it proves to me that you're pathetically weak.
>> So- >> And by the way, misdemeanor charges so
far, there could be, some felony charges depending on how this investigation goes,
especially if they had illegal weapons on them.
But among those booked into jail on misdemeanor charges of conspiracy
to riot was Thomas Ryan Russo, that's the founder of Patriot Front.
He's from Grapevine, Texas, who had been identified by
the Southern Poverty Law Center as the 23 year old who founded the group
after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia 2017.
These people aren't gonna go away, this is gonna continue, right?
And part of the reason why it's going to continue is because I mean, what do you
have to lose if you get caught, you just get booked on misdemeanor charges.
>> Yeah, so, and I want to be clear.
So I said the Rittenhouse strategy and I don't know that Kyle Rittenhouse
intended to kill someone when he went to that event.
And so, but I say all the time, do not go to any events, right wing left wing,
it doesn't matter with weapons because basically, you're saying I can't wait to
there for a fight to start, so I can use this thing, right?
So that as a general concept, but now when I refer to the Rittenhouse strategy, I'm
not talking about Rittenhouse himself, I'm talking about the fact that he got off.
Which allows then dangerous right wingers like this to go think,
all I gotta do is start a fight and then the minute someone else fights back, boom,
I get to do any amount of violence that I want to them.
And so it has begun.
>> Yeah.
>> And that apparently is in some ways in the document,
I think the documents key guys, if because that shows intent or lack of intent.
If it intended to cause violence, then it should not be a misdemeanor, it should be
very serious charges and a lesson should be sent to anyone on any political side.
You cannot go to a rally to cause violence and
we'll bring the law down on you super hard if you do.
>> Now, one other thing I wanted to mention is the police have held a press
conference about this and they are now stating that they've received 149 calls.
Half of which are from individuals within the community who are thanking them for
the work they're doing and thanking them for
catching these guys before they showed up and possibly rioted at this pride event.
The other half are threatening to docks them, sending them death threats.
And those calls are overwhelmingly according to the police from other parts
of the country.
They apparently also received one of those phone calls with threats from Norway,
Norway.
>> Norway. >> It's a little disappointing but-
>> By the way,
what happened to Blue Lives matter?
All of a sudden cops bust up white supremacist ring that was going to commit
violence against gay people and all of a sudden Blue lives don't matter.
And they're threatening to kill the cops.
>> Yep. >> Because they dare to do their job and
protect everyone.
So, these are the kind of sick people that exist, unfortunately within the right way