Republican (Matt Shea - WA) discussed violent attacks and surveillance with rightwingers

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Republican discussed violent attacks and surveillance with rightwingers

Washington state representative Matt Shea exchanged messages with far-right figures, chat records obtained by the Guardian reveal

Jason Wilson
Sat 20 Apr 2019 07.00 BST Last modified on Sat 20 Apr 2019 07.02 BST

A Washington state Republican politician took part in private discussions with rightwing figures about carrying out surveillance, “psyops” and even violent attacks on perceived political enemies, according to chat records obtained by the Guardian.

State representative Matt Shea, who represents Spokane Valley in the Washington state house, participated in the chats with three other men. All of the men used screen aliases – Shea’s was “Verum Bellator”, Latin for true warrior. The Guardian confirmed the identity of those in the chat by cross-checking phone numbers attached to the Signal accounts.

The group included Jack Robertson, who broadcasts a far-right radio show, Radio Free Redoubt, under the alias “John Jacob Schmidt”. The chat also included Anthony Bosworth, whose history includes a public altercation with his own daughter and bringing guns to a court house. Bosworth participated in the 2016 occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge, reportedly at Shea’s request.

The name of another participant, who provided the chat records to the Guardian, has been withheld due to concerns about personal safety.

The chats on the messaging app Signal took place in the days leading up to a supposed “Antifa revolt” on 4 November 2017. Throughout late October, far-right media outlets had been stoking fears of political conflict on the basis of planned peaceful protests by a small leftist group.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/20/matt-shea-rightwing-messages-chat-records

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

NOW

[empedocles]

2. Great to have a 'guardian' like 'the Guardian'.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Wonder if Russian wifey helps him? Viktoriya (Vinnikova) Shea

[dalton99a]

4. "My uncle is rich"

[femmedem]

5. This guy is a dangerous lunatic, and it's appalling that he's an elected official.

"Shea, a six-term legislator and military veteran, came to international attention in 2018 after a document he authored surfaced laying out a “biblical basis for war”, which appeared to be a plan for an apocalyptic battle with people who practiced “same sex marriage” and “abortion”, and instructed: “If they do not yield, kill all males.”

What is wrong with the voters in his district?

[Wounded Bear]

6. Like all blue states, WA has its fringe elements...

I hate that guys like this live here, but whattaya gonna do? Much of the state is Trump country.

I'm still hoping we can flip that seat in the House next year. About 100 miles south of Spokane is a college town with a lot of students that could help.

[Pepsidog]

7. Thankfully we know one thing, Republicans are cowards. It wouldn't be much of a fight.

[gopiscrap]

8. THIS IS IN MY STATE, ALTHOUGH IN THE CRAZY RED AREA

I will be calling the House of Reps to push for and hopefully get him expelled