A man who described himself as a radical leftist was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last Friday, Jan. 15, for plotting to hurt President Donald Trump's supporters who might show up at the Florida's capitol in line with the upcoming inauguration of former Vice President Joseph Biden.
The Blaze reported that the FBI filed criminal charges against Daniel Alan Baker for planning to recruit people to violently attack pro-Trump protesters who will assemble at the Tallahassee Capitol, accU.S.ing him of calling "to arms for like-minded individuals to violently confront" them.
FBI also alerted on Sunday state and local officials on possible violent protests as flow over of the U.S. Capitol rioting last Jan. 6.
According to The Blaze, Baker was a former U.S. veteran who served in the Airborne infantry before he was kicked out for being absent without leave. He then fought with the Kurdish YPG militia and was found by state prosecutors to have attempts in purchasing firearms for the Florida Capitol planned attack.
The Tamba Bay Times added that Baker went AWOL when he was about to be deployed to Iraq during after one year stint in the army in 2007. He became homeless after this in 2008 to 2017 when he occasionally became a security guard. He then joined a the militia group People's Protection Unit of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in 2017 to fight against ISIS in Syria.
In addition, Tampa Bay Times said that Baker was online recruiting since October looking for "like-minded" people" and eventually made a "call for arms Jan. 20th" to "fight back" against "racist mobs" at the Tallahassee Capitol to "drive them out of Tallahassee with every caliber available" after Jan. 6.
"The law-abiding public is safer now that he has been arrested," U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Lawrence Keefe announced.
"We are, and will remain, on high alert and will take all appropriate actions against credible threats," he added. "Extremists intent on violence from either end of the political and social spectrums must be stopped, and they will be stopped."
In line with the FBI alert, Tampa Bay Times reported that law enforcements in Florida have heightened security measures to the extent of closing their country courthouse and City Hall in the event that preparations will be made in line with violent demonstrations besides postponing their Martin Luther King Day parade that normally is held annually. Employees of the Capitol were even asked by Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson to work from home because of this.
The Tallahassee Democrat reported that roughly 150 pro-Trump supporters also rallied in the Florida Capitol alongside the U.S. Capitol rally but it was a peaceful one. The said group joined the U.S. Capitol group in protest of the 2020 presidential election results and in prayer before they broke off afterwards.
The FBI actually has been conducting a series of arrests across the United States based on the intelligence reports they gathered the violent rallies will be held by groups in the week of the inauguration of former Vice President Joseph Biden into the presidency.
"In that vein, we and our partners have already arrested more than 100 individuals for their criminal activities in last week's siege of the Capitol and continue to pursue countless other related investigations. Those help not only prevent those individuals from any effort to repeat that kind of activity, but also should serve as a very stern warning to anybody else who might be inclined to try to engage in that activity," the FBI said in their website press release.
