A former FBI agent who successfully fought to have related papers leaked after refusing to grant a permit for an inspection into a right-wing organization.
According to earlier reports from the Daily Caller News Foundation, Zach Schoffstall, who formerly served as a regulatory agent in the FBI’s Salt Lake City section, was apparently forced out of the company under the Biden administration because he refused to launch an investigation into the Patriot Front business.
The business Empower Oversight, which specializes in assisting reporters, filed a motion asking the government to release the warrant. The government eventually agreed to release the document after three months, with the only edited details being the regulatory agent’s name, according to Schoffstall.
31 Patriot Front members were detained in 2022 on suspicion of conspiring to mob after holding an LGBT event in Idaho. Schoffstall was urged by the FBI to review a subpoena related to the case in addition to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho. According to Schoffstall, the government sought out other providers who were willing to sign, including at least one who was not familiar with the inspection when he declined.
According to Schoffstall, the search warrant was intended to stop the Patriot Front from searching electronic gadgets. He claims that the FBI, Department of Justice ( DOJ), and the Idaho U.S. Attorney’s Office purposefully withheld the warrant because it might serve as evidence to support his whistleblower complaints to Congress and his administrative grievances against the government.
The Patriot Front protesters were linked to previous protests, including those in Charlottesville and the U.S. Capitol attack, according to the Daily Caller’s affidavit supporting possible reason, which was obtained by the Daily Caller. It suggested a connection between the Charlottesville, Virginia, 2017″ Unite the Best” march and the violent clashes that led to the death of one protester and the injury of several others.
According to FBI files, Patriot Front allegedly arose as a result of Vanguard America’s collapse. James Fields, who was afterwards found guilty of driving into a group of counterprotesters, was seen carrying a weapon with Vanguard America’s sign during the Charlottesville march. Vanguard America, nevertheless, denied any involvement with Fields.
According to the George Washington University Program on Extremism, Vanguard America splintered following Charlottesville, with its former president Thomas Rousseau forming Patriot Front. Teaching videos from the Patriot Front site, which the affidavit referred to as “military-style training,” were used in the affidavit.
The Patriot Front individuals carried spears at the Idaho rally, according to the oath, and the Capitol riots had been accompanied by shields as weaponry during the incident on January 6. However, an email from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division ( CTD ) suggested Rousseau had discouraged violence and expelled staff members who carried out violent acts.
Schoffstall argued that these interior FBI communications showed that the organization was informed that Patriot Front’s activities, while contentious, were protected by the First Amendment and that its leaders constantly sought to stop violence. Patriot Front was described as a group that adheres to racial-motivated radical ideology but wasn’t formed with unlawful goal in a presentation for FBI Executive Management in June 2022.
In spite of these observations, Schoffstall was finally pressured out of the FBI because he refused to pursue the case. He thinks the government purposefully kept the oath from being used in a state criminal case and from being made people so that it wouldn’t be held accountable for deceiving the judge.
Attorney General Pam Bondi created the Weaponization Working Group as a response to concerns about government intrusion. In addition to the alleged government bribes that were committed during the Biden administration, such as an FBI memo that targeted Catholic organizations and pro-life activists who were charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances ( FACE ) Act, this initiative is being conducted.
