Debunked: There's no evidence of a planned 'huge uprising' of pro-Trump ‘armed protests’ in all 50 states

The FBI and news media is exaggerating and playing politics.

In the wake of the Capitol Hill melee last week, the news media has been breathlessly reporting on the possibility — citing an intelligence bulletin from the FBI — that there will be widespread armed protests in all 50 states on and leading up to Inauguration Day. If the FBI is to be believed, there is a serious, deliverable plot in motion that involves armed insurrectionists simultaneously storming each and every state capitol.

The hysteria has reached new heights this week, with prominent pundits, politicians, reporters, and other personalities claiming that a wave of pro-Trump right wing violence is right around the corner.

igorvolsky @igorvolsky

FBI is literally warning all 50 states that heavily armed insurrectionists are coming to kill us. Why are we not discussing how ridiculously easy it is to access incredibly dangerous guns in the United States and committing to fixing that problem ASAP in Biden/Harris admin?

Josh Margolin @JoshMargolin

New: @FBI now reports in a bulletin "Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,” @AaronKatersky reports.

The Guardian @guardian

FBI reportedly on alert for armed pro-Trump protests in 50 states and Washington

theguardian.comMichigan bans open carry of guns in state Capitol as FBI warns of violenceFBI bulletin reportedly details calls for ‘storming’ of buildings and courthouses if Trump is removed from power before inauguration

Wolf Blitzer @wolfblitzer

This FBI warning is very disturbing, An internal FBI bulletin obtained by @CNN says: "Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January.” Details in @CNNSitRoom 5-7PM ET

ABC News @ABC

An internal FBI note obtained by @ABC News shows warnings of "a huge uprising."

abcn.wsArmed protests being planned at all 50 state capitols, FBI bulletin saysOn Jan. 6, rioters coming from a pro-Trump rally broke into the U.S. Capitol, resulting in deaths, injuries, arrests and vandalism.

Security is being ramped up in capital cities across America, with many states announcing that they are bringing in National Guard units to prepare for the chaos that they’ve been told will meet them on or before the 20th.

The FBI, which has not gone on the record publicly to speak about this potential massive national security issue, has decided to communicate it to the public by leaking this bulletin to select individuals in the news media. As shown above, it has been the source for blaring, intense headlines across the legacy media landscape. The details within this “internal FBI bulletin” have now been shared by a variety of news sites such as CNN, Yahoo News, ABC News and other establishment outlets.

CNN reports on the FBI intel report:

The FBI has received information indicating "armed protests" are being planned at all 50 state capitols and the US Capitol in Washington, DC in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20.

ABC reported on the memo: 

Starting this week and running through at least Inauguration Day, armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols and at the U.S. Capitol.

Yahoo News reported:

The [FBI] had been made aware of armed groups “storming” local, state, and federal courthouses and buildings if President Donald Trump is removed from office before Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20.

After digging deeper into these claims, I found that they are not only incredibly exaggerated and don’t hold up to much scrutiny, but even more disturbingly, seem to be part of an information operation similar to what has embroiled the FBI in many controversies over the past several years.

The reported group behind these planned protests is the Boogaloo movement, which can be understood as a loosely connected contingent of activists, some of which have extremist viewpoints across the political spectrum. Unlike, say, the far-left Antifa organization, the Boogaloo movement has never shown the capacity to organize in every state.

There is hardly anything “pro-Trump” about the organization, whose supporters routinely mock the president and his supporters. In fact, the group’s website (which I will not link to in order to protect this platform) claims that its supporters will display “much more restraint and professionalism than the Trumpers in DC.”

The FBI bulletin’s evidence for the mass mobilization campaign is unknown, but it appears to be sourced to this flyer, which is on the Boogaloo aggregator website.

There hasn’t been a single additional right-of-center group that I am aware of that has announced that they will participate in these “armed marches.” It seems that this claimed “threat” is exclusive to the Boogaloo movement.

What also remains completely unreported is that the group itself appears to have canceled the D.C. rally. “Plans to have a demonstration in Washington DC are cancelled and will not move forward,” a memo posted Sunday on the website reads.

It’s difficult to estimate the exact number of supporters for the Boogaloo movement. Its main Facebook page, which has since been shut down, had accumulated around 30,000 followers. Additionally, Facebook has removed hundreds, not thousands, of accounts associated with the group on their platform.

The Boogaloo movement first appeared on the internet in 2019 in the form of memes and other random posts on internet message boards like 4chan, and individuals supporting the group have shown up to a variety of protest movements throughout 2020. Some self-declared “Boogaloo boys” have aligned themselves with far-left groups like Black Lives Matter, in supporting a system that removes the role of police from society. On the other side of the fence, some that claim to be attached to the movement have expressed support for white nationalism and other forms of extremism, others have run-of-the-mill libertarian ideals, while some seem to be more aligned with completely anarchist viewpoints.

Additionally, the group’s main aggregator website makes clear that the movement does not have the capacity to operate in every state. In fact, they don’t even have a chapter group link for 25 states. 

The Boogaloo movement has been the subject of intense interest for the FBI, which appears to have thoroughly infiltrated the organization with undercover operatives and confidential informants. Over the past year, Boogaloo members have been arrested in countless sting operations. They’ve been charged with a variety of actions resulting from sting operations, from select members allegedly attempting to join the Hamas terrorist organization, to others seeking to “kidnap” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The FBI seems to be grossly exaggerating the capabilities of a fringe network of activists that does not have the capacity to mobilize significant numbers of people. Certainly, they do not present a threat of “insurrection,” or anything close. In leaking these bulletins to the media, it appears that the Bureau is once again, after four years of “Trump-Russia” madness, engaged in unsavory activism and attempts to manufacture a political narrative.

.