Federal authorities arrested a Trump-supporting extremist in California on a federal charge of possessing a “destructive explosive device,” and is alleged to have been targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom and other high-profile Democrats for attack, according to court records obtained by the Daily Boulder.
According to the criminal complaint, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, the Napa Special Investigations Bureau, and the FBI executed a state search warrant at the home and business of Ian Benjamin Rogers, 43, on January 15, 2021.
During the search, “officers found a large gun safe at ROGERS’s business. Inside, the safe, officers recovered several guns and five pipe bombs. They also identified other materials that could be used to manufacture destructive devices, including black powder, pipes, endcaps, and manuals, including The Anarchist Cookbook, U.S. Army Improvised Munitions Handbook, and Homemade C-4 A Recipe for Survival,” the affidavit says.
The court document also states:
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Further, text messages recovered from ROGERS’s phone indicate his belief that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, and his intent to attack Democrats and places associated with Democrats in an effort to ensure Trump remained in office. For example, in a message that I believe ROGERS sent on January 10, 2021,2 he said, “We can attack Twitter or the democrats you pick” and “I think we can attack either easily”. When the other person responded, “Hmmm” and “Let’s go after Soros,” ROGERS said, “We can attack Twitter and democrats easy right now burn they’re shit down,” whereas targeting “Soros,” which I believe is a reference to George Soros, would require a “road trip.” The next day, ROGERS sent another message to the same person: “I want to blow up a democrat building bad”. “The democrats need to pay,” he added. “Let’s see what happens, if nothing does I’m going to war” “Democrats, Twitter, etc” “I hope 45 goes to war if he doesn’t I will”. Based on my training and experience and my discussions with other agents with experience in domestic terrorism investigations, I believe that these latter messages indicate ROGERS’s belief that Trump (“45”) actually won the presidential election and should “go to war” to ensure he remained in power. I further believe that the messages evince ROGERS’s intent to engage in acts of violence himself locally if there was not an organized “war” to prevent Joe Biden from assuming the presidency.
12. ROGERS added, “Let’s see what happens then we act,” but followed it up with “I’m thinking sac office first target” “Then maybe bird and face offices”. I believe that when ROGERS said, “sac office first target,” he meant that their first target should be the offices of California Governor Gavin Newsom in Sacramento. I further believe that when ROGERS said that the “bird and face” offices would be next, he meant the offices of Twitter (“bird”) and Facebook (“face”), because both social media platforms had locked Trump’s accounts to prevent him from sending messages on those platforms. “Sad it’s come to this but I’m not going down without a fight” “These commies need to be told what’s up,” he said.
Rogers also possessed white supremacist propaganda and sported a “Three Percenter” bumper sticker on his car, suggesting sympathy with, or links to, a movement of anti-government militants.
