On Monday, the FBI declassified two sets of documents regarding the suspected federal front group, Patriot Front.
- Patriot Front Part 01: 586 pages
- Patriot Front Part 02: 364 pages
An example of the redacted pages from the second document package shows virtually blank documents.
They are nearly blank, with some exceptions.
Previously, charges against Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau were dropped after 22 recruits were found guilty in court.
In June 2022, 31 members of the Patriot Front were arrested in Idaho for planning a protest at a Gay Pride rally. They were traveling with homemade shields in a U-Haul but had no other weapons. The arrests were made based on the potential for violence, not actual violence.
Idaho law enforcement admitted to having informants within the Patriot Front before the arrests. Thomas Rousseau, the group’s founder, first gained attention in 2017 during the Tiki Torch march in Charlottesville, Virginia. He organized Patriot Front immediately after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
The FBI is known for recruiting individuals with previous arrests to work as informants. Notes from interviews with potential Patriot Front members revealed that some candidates, like one identified as Gabriel from California, were government informants.
The FBI admitted to tracking the Patriot Front for over a year before the 2022 arrests. Documents published by Rolling Stone confirmed this surveillance.
Following the June 2022 arrests, seven members were found guilty in jury trials, and 15 pleaded guilty, totaling 22 guilty verdicts for conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor. However, charges against Rousseau were dropped in 2023 for undisclosed reasons. Idaho police had turned over 37 electronic devices belonging to Patriot Front members to the FBI, who then withheld them, leading to the dismissal of Rousseau’s case.
Prosecutors faced significant hurdles when the FBI refused to cooperate, withholding crucial evidence. This led Judge John Cafferty to dismiss the case against Rousseau. Local prosecutors were unable to compel the FBI to return the evidence, further complicating the case.
The situation raises questions about the FBI’s involvement with Patriot Front Group and whether Rousseau is an FBI asset or an unwitting participant in a federal operation targeting extremist groups. The close ties between the Patriot Front and the federal government are evident.
What is our government doing, setting up innocent Americans in these schemes? Who is Thomas Rousseau?