You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Washington State Rep. Discussed Violence and Surveillance of Opponents

HeadlineApr 22, 2019

In Washington state, an investigation by The Guardian reveals a prominent Republican lawmaker held private discussions with far-right figures about spying on political opponents—and even targeting them with violence. Records from the private chat room show state Representative Matt Shea discussed disrupting a planned demonstration by anti-fascist protesters in Spokane with Jack Robertson, host of the far-right show “Radio Free Redoubt,” and with Anthony Bosworth, a veteran of the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by an anti-government militia. The chat logs show Shea agreed to carry out background checks on the protesters and did not object when Robertson proposed attacking a woman activist with the threat: “Fist full of hair, and face slam, to a Jersey barrier. Treat em like communist revolutionaries. Then shave her bald with a K-Bar USMC field knife.” After The Guardian published its exposé, Washington’s lieutenant governor called on Republicans to eject Rep. Shea from their caucus.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top