California resident Ian Rogers has been charged with unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device — which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison — after authorities discovered five pipe bombs (alongside other weaponry) among his possessions.
BREAKING: Trump supporter found with huge weapons stash and pipe bombs discussed attacking Twitter two days after they booted Trump off the platform, feds say.
“I hope 45 goes to war if he doesn’t I will,” Ian Rogers wrote.https://t.co/TPmfamPX7i
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 27, 2021
According to an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint against Rogers, law enforcement personnel found 49 firearms and about two dozen boxes containing a total of thousands of rounds of ammunition at his home and business. Rogers “admitted that he had built the pipe bombs, but said that they were for entertainment purposes only,” according to the affidavit. However, the document states that authorities found evidence of Rogers’s “intent to attack Democrats and places associated with Democrats in an effort to ensure Trump remained in office.” On January 11, for example, Rogers sent a message stating that he wanted to “blow up a democrat building.” In another instance, he proposed targeting the seat of California’s state government — which is led by Democrats — in Sacramento.
In one of his messages, Rogers said that the “commies need to be told what’s up.” He carried out these moves towards violence under the explicit pretense of Donald Trump’s lies about the election. Trump pushed the lie that the 2020 election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden, and although not a single court anywhere in the country ever accepted the idea of systematic election fraud, reality did not spark any kind of retraction from Trump. On January 6, a mob of Trump’s supporters carried out an insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol building, where they attempted to forcibly stop the Congressional proceedings to formally certify the electoral college outcome and Biden’s victory, putting members of Congress in serious danger.
In the wake of the Capitol violence and Biden’s recent inauguration, some Republicans have refused to let go of the delusional idea that the election was stolen. During a recent appearance on ABC, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) flatly refused to unequivocally acknowledge that the election was not “stolen.” Meanwhile, a threat remains — in a Wednesday bulletin through the National Terrorist Advisory System, the Department of Homeland Security warned that “some ideologically-motivated violent extremists… could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence” on the basis of “objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition.”
