Politics
FBI arrest Florida 'hardcore leftist' who plotted armed attack on pro-Trump protesters at state Capitol
Daniel Baker was kicked out of the Army, fought with terrorists, and supported Antifa, prosecutors claim.
A self-described "hardcore leftist" was arrested Friday for allegedly issuing a call to arms online to recruit like-minded individuals to join him in violently confronting pro-Trump supporters expected to gather at the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee on Sunday, just days before the presidential inauguration.
Daniel Alan Baker – an alleged Antifa supporter who participated in several anti-police protests last year around the country, including in Seattle’s CHOP/CHAZ zone – was arrested "without incident" by FBI agents early Friday with assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Tallahassee Police Department.
Baker, who prosecutors say was kicked out of the Army and was homeless for several years in the Tallahassee-area before choosing to fight alongside a U.S.-designated terrorist group in Syria, is now charged with violating a federal law that makes it a felony to "transmit in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another."
He appeared before Magistrate Judge Charles A. Stampelos on Friday and is scheduled to remain at a federal detention center in Tallahassee until his next court appearance scheduled on Jan. 21, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday granted Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey’s request to have the National Guard brought in to help protect the state Capitol. This comes as an FBI internal memo warned of potential armed protests at state Capitol buildings in all 50 states in the days leading up to the inauguration. The Tallahassee City Hall and the Leon County Courthouse will be closed early this week.
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