FBI officials in the dark about new 'terror group' targeted by Bondi's DOJ: reporter
An announcement by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice of breaking up what she described as “what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot” in California received a small amount of skepticism on MS NOW Monday afternoon.
Earlier in the morning, the Donald Trump appointee announced on X: “The Turtle Island Liberation Front—a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group—was preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve. The group also planned to target ICE agents and vehicles. This was an incredible effort by our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the @FBI to ensure Americans can live in peace. We will continue to pursue these terror groups and bring them to justice.”
The announcement and the subsequent nationally broadcast news conference came just a week after a leaked DOJ memo revealed the agency was targeting groups promoting “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” or “anti-Christianity” beliefs, while adding that those who express “hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality” should expect DOJ inquiries.
After the Monday press conference, MS NOW’s Anna Cabrerra asked senior investigative reporter David Rohde if he had seen the news coming.
“So there's four individuals that they've arrested, and they say they're, sort of, part of far-left organizations that are against capitalism,” he replied. “And then there is not many more other details about how, sort of, far along these plots got.”
“I think it will be very important to see what the actual charging documents are,” he continued. “And it's not a group that has large, a large presence online. That could be because they don’t want to have a large presence.”
”This group they've identified as the Turtle Island Liberation Front, they called it a radical anti-government group,” the MS NOW host prompted Rohde.
Reasserting he wanted to wait and read the charging documents, he replied, “ I’ve talked to three former national security FBI officials, and they had never heard of this group. So it could be very dangerous because they kept such a low profile, but it is not a group that has come across law enforcement radar in the past.”
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