All posts tagged "army"

This Navy veteran is shaking with rage at these MAGA tchotchkes

By now, you have most likely heard of the disgraceful appearance by Donald Trump at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday.

The convicted felon’s remarks to Army personnel were partisan, incendiary, anti-American and belong in a dumpster and/or Mar-a-Lago, not a United States military base.

Except it was even worse than any of us thought ...

Thanks to some stellar reporting by Military.com, we are learning today that U.S. taxpayers essentially funded a vulgar MAGA rally at a U.S. Army facility.

The appearance by the president of the United States of America had NOTHING TO DO with the morale and good order of our troops and everything to do with HIM, as he stirred these young men and women into a partisan frenzy.

Things were so out of hand, that there were actually booths set up to sell grotesque MAGA merchandise and memorabilia to our troops. This didn’t just cross a line, it obliterated it, and was against myriad Defense Department regulations.

From military.com reporting:

I am admittedly shaking with rage as I type this, friends, because as a veteran I could have never conceived of something like this in my lifetime. These are the kinds of things that happen in other troubled countries — many of which WE actually have helped to liberate with our blood in the past.

I want to keep this missive brief, because I encourage you to read and share widely the comprehensive piece that I linked to above. Please do this.

As the retired managing editor of Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent newspaper that serves the troops and their families overseas, I want to commend the continued good work the folks at Military.com are continuing to do stateside. I assure you they are experts on the military, and wedded to top-notch journalism. Their work has never been more important as the U.S. slides toward fascism.

We are in the most precarious moment in our nation’s history since the beginning of the Civil War. Anybody who is not reporting it this way is dangerous, completely out of their depth, and should not be taken seriously.

Since day one of this anti-American administration I have been warning with some precision that we were heading toward this terrible juncture, and I wish nothing more than to report to you that I was wrong.

Turns out, I actually underestimated the pace of our descent into authoritarianism. Unless there is some significant pushback by our military, fellow citizens, the press, the Democrats and the reprehensible Republican Party, it is hard to see how we survive this.

Before signing out, I am again calling on our military leadership past and present, and fellow veterans everywhere, to speak out loudly against this ongoing attack THAT WE KNOW IS WRONG.

For now, stay strong, lean on each other, and call your political representatives (202-224-3121) to make your voices heard.

'This is new': Veterans highlight rarity of Army rebuke for Trump altercation at Arlington

Donald Trump and his campaign continue to experience backlash after the reported physical altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery official.

Trump welcomed the press to the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Monday but didn't tell the press pool that he was headed to Section 60, where the altercation purportedly occurred. So, no media was on hand to observe the incident. The TikTok video showed photos of the wreath-laying from two different angles.

The Trump campaign told MSNBC on Wednesday that a video of the incident exists but refused to share it with him.

The U.S. Army released a statement on Thursday shaming the campaign staffer who reportedly shoved the cemetery official, prompting a lot of response.

The military is infamously non-political, so the fact that they released a statement rebuking Trump's campaign without saying his name is notable, a national security reporter for Politico explained on X.

"This is new stuff," said Paul McLeary.

"It has to be noted how rare a statement like this from the Army is. I covered the Army for four years and not sure I can recall something similar," CNN Pentagon reporter Haley Britzky agreed.

Veteran Paul Rieckhoff commented, "It's now clearly the Trump campaign's word against the US ARMY. Who you gonna believe?"

Marine and former Wall Street Journal correspondent Ben Kesling explored the controversy to explain why what Trump did was so unacceptable.

"You can't have your photo crew take photos even if one family consents. That's because other graves are included in those photos. And those families haven't given permission," he said. "More importantly, grieving families shouldn't feel pressured by powerful people to give consent. Section 60 is noteworthy because the graves are those of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. People visiting those graves aren't distant relatives. It's moms and dads and wives and husbands and kids and friends and fellow troops. The grief is still very present."

Military.com reporter Konstantin Toropin agreed with Kesling, saying that the controversy could be confusing. "Like with so many topics, the former President is testing and exposing rules or traditions that have long laid under the surface because no one felt the need to push those limits."

Some former military officials are still furious about Trump's behavior in general.

"This is no way for a government official or political candidate to conduct themselves on the sacred ground of Section 60 at Arlington. The final resting place of so many heroic Americans -- including some who died under my command -- is not a political prop," said retired Admiral James Stavridis, USN on X.

Trump's campaign still maintains that the altercation never took place.

Right-wing extremist tied to threats against Raw Story reporter arrested on gun charges

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include new details released by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina and confirmation that Nix is no longer serving in the Army following the original publication of this article on Sunday, Aug. 18.

Kai Liam Nix, a 20-year-old Army soldier tied to extremist threats against a Raw Story reporter, was arrested on Aug. 15 and is being detained in a North Carolina jail on a “federal hold,” Raw Story has confirmed.

The New Yorker, which published an extensive article Sunday about right-wing extremism, further detailed that Nix’s federal charges involve “illicit sales of firearms and lying on a background check.”

Update, 5:01 p.m., Aug. 19, 2024: A federal grand jury indicted Nix — also known as Kai Brazelton — with unlawful firearms trafficking, including the sale of two stolen firearms, according to a statement Monday from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina.

The grand jury also indicted Nix on making false statements to the government by allegedly lying on a security clearance application document by saying he had "never been a member of a group dedicated to the use of violence or force to overthrow the U.S. government."

The FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Department have combined to investigate Nix's case, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Together, the charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison.

Update, 12:10 a.m., Aug. 21, 2024: Bryce S. Dubee, an Army spokesperson, confirmed to Raw Story that Nix "has left the Army," while referring additional questions to the Department of Justice.

Robert J. Parrott Jr., a public defender, told the New York Times "that we should avoid rushing to judgement" on Nix, adding that the defendant "looks forward to making his case in court."

The story by New Yorker reporter David Kirkpatrick links Nix to a demonstration by neo-Nazis in February outside the Greensboro, N.C., home of Raw Story reporter Jordan Green.

The article also links Nix to photographs of a bogus pizza delivery at Green’s home in January — ones circulated by extremists in an attempt to intimidate Green, who was then completing reporting on a neo-Nazi youth gang 2119, also known as the Blood and Soil Crew.

As detailed by the New Yorker, the license plate of a pickup truck parked outside Green’s home and containing someone surreptitiously photographing the pizza delivery traced back to Nix. The photo apparently taken by Nix was posted by a 2119 member on the social media app Telegram the day after the incident.

Nix, who is an active-duty soldier based at Fort Liberty, N.C., per the New Yorker’s reporting, was also reportedly present at the neo-Nazi demonstration in front of Green’s home in February.

The New Yorker indicated that Nix photographed four men wearing skull masks holding burning flares in Hitler salutes while flanking a fifth man, who held a sign warning of a “consequence” for Green’s reporting.

The man holding the sign, Sean Kauffmann, along with two of the men making Hitler salutes — Jarrett William Smith and David Fair — had been the subject of Green’s previous reporting.

Photos of the demonstration soon appeared on a Telegram channel named Appalachian Archives.

Also posted: photos of the Nazis posing next to a historical marker commemorating the Greensboro massacre, where a coalition of Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members fatally gunned down five labor organizers in 1979.

Raw Story attempted to reach the Army to confirm Nix's service status, but did not receive a response before publication on Sunday. Messages left for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina likewise went unreturned Sunday.

‘Outrageous’: Army reservist with KKK ties still in the military

U.S. Army reservist Christopher Woodall organized a “white nationalist” paramilitary camp while serving in the North Carolina Army National Guard.

He boasted of his Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi ties.

He openly supported Russia’s war on Ukraine.

But seven months after Raw Story revealed Woodall’s extremism, an Army investigation — prompted by that reporting — remains ongoing, with no conclusion in sight, military officials acknowledged.

Woodall, meanwhile, remains a member of the Individual Ready Reserve, which the Army describes as “trained soldiers who may be called upon, if needed, to replace soldiers in active duty and Army Reserve units.”

Woodall’s continued connection to the Army comes at a time when the Biden administration has publicly vowed to combat extremism within the military’s ranks.

Lt. Col. Allie Scott, a spokesperson for the Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky, confirmed to Raw Story that the command is currently pursuing a “fact-finding investigation” on Woodall for alleged extremist activity. One potential outcome, she said, is that Woodall could be removed from the Individual Ready Reserve.

“For the past six months, we have attempted to find the facts from the North Carolina National Guard, and also any reports within our [military] judicial system,” Scott told Raw Story. In a follow-up interview, she added: “I can’t confirm whether they have responded or not.”

Scott added: “Paramilitary training — that would have been grounds to say that person does not uphold Army values, whether they were on duty or not.”

A spokesperson for the North Carolina National Guard confirmed that a National Guard lawyer has received a request for information about Woodall from the Army Human Resources Command.

But despite Woodall acknowledging to Raw Story in August 2023 that he ran a “white nationalist” training group, it remains unclear what, if any, progress Army investigators have made in his case. Scott declined to comment on when the investigation might be completed.

For a month following Raw Story’s publication disclosing Woodall’s extremist activities, action on the case stalled due to confusion about which agency held authority over him.

And today, seven months into the investigation, public affairs officers at several installations — including Army headquarters at the Pentagon, Army Human Resources Command and the North Carolina National Guard — responded to Raw Story’s inquiries with statements indicating they were unfamiliar with basic facts of Woodall’s case.

“This is outrageous,” Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project on Hate and Extremism, told Raw Story. “It’s been months since you disclosed this. There’s no question about this guy’s involvement in prohibited extremist activities. I’m not sure what’s going on at DOD, but this guy should have been bounced immediately.”

Beirich noted that Woodall has a long documented history of participation in hate groups, and this is not a case of a soldier merely making one racist social media post.

A cut-and-dry case?

In January 2023, when Woodall was still a member of the North Carolina Army National Guard, he hosted one of his white nationalist paramilitary training sessions.

Woodall, now 35, separated from the National Guard in April 2023 after four years of service. The total enlistment period is eight years for the National Guard; members who leave active duty are required to spend the remainder in the Individual Ready Reserve. Barring special circumstances, Woodall’s obligation to the Individual Ready Reserve would last through April 2027.

Members of the Individual Ready Reserve can be involuntarily called up for deployment in a time of national emergency, as happened during the 1991 Gulf War, the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August 2023, when Raw Story published its initial report on Woodall’s white nationalist activities, questions about which military entity even held authority over Woodall caused an initial delay into what later became an investigation.

The Army’s confusion was palpable: The Army first referred questions about the matter to the North Carolina National Guard, which in turn indicated that questions about whether any action would be taken would “be brought forth to the appropriate NCNG sections.”

Almost four weeks later, a spokesperson for the agency told Raw Story that “the North Carolina National Guard does not hold any administrative control or oversight for service members” in Woodall’s status.

Another two weeks passed, with multiple emails and phone calls, before an Army spokesperson at the Pentagon told Raw Story in an email that the matter had been “referred to the appropriate agency for review and action, as appropriate.”

At Raw Story’s insistence, the spokesperson eventually divulged that the agency handling the investigation was the Army Human Resources Command.

Raw Story’s effort in April to obtain updates on Woodall’s status met with more delays.

More than a week after Raw Story requested an update from the Army spokesperson in mid-April, she told the publication: “I don’t think we’re going to have anything more.”

Then, after being reminded that she herself had confirmed the existence of the investigation, she referred Raw Story to a spokesperson at Human Resources Command.

‘Societal collapse’

Raw Story’s investigation reviewed messages sent by Woodall and others on the social media platform Telegram. Their telegram chat went dark last year, shortly after Raw Story contacted Woodall for comment.

But in August 2023, Woodall acknowledged in an interview with Raw Story that he had described his paramilitary training group as “white nationalist,” saying, “If you want to really split hairs, yes.”

And while he disputed the notion that the group was conducting military training, he told Raw Story that they were “talking about teaching people to use and operate firearms” and that they were training in preparation “for a societal collapse.”

In his comments to Raw Story, Woodall defended his involvement in a paramilitary training group geared specifically for white people.

“I don’t see it as an issue to have a white-friendly group of people that get together and teach each other,” said Woodall, who also worked for 16 months as a jail guard in Greensboro, N.C., which overlapped with his National Guard service. Woodall also said he served in an Army combat role for eight years, prior to joining the National Guard.

Scott, the spokesperson for Army Human Resources Command, declined to comment on whether investigators have attempted to speak with Woodall.

Having voluntarily left the National Guard more than a year ago, Woodall has given little indication that he holds any desire to continue his military service. So little, in fact, that when contacted by Raw Story last year, Woodall indicated he was not aware that he remained bound to a military service obligation as a member of the Individual Ready Reserve.

He said at the time that he had received an overture to extend his enlistment in the National Guard. He turned it down.

In March 2023, shortly before leaving the National Guard, Woodall told members of his Telegram chat that he had soured on the U.S. military.

He wrote that “it was time to leave” because of “all the gender s---, and frankly just the s--- state of the military in general anymore.

“Not to say it wasn’t a challenge to make it in, or that there weren’t some good times that I’ll miss,” Woodall continued, “but the overshadowing bureaucracy, favoritism, woke feminism, gender neutrality, and just general soft nature of it all is unbearable by now.”

Beyond Woodall’s advocacy for white nationalism, he also maintained a TikTok account in 2023 that commented favorably on Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and interacted with a Russian propaganda account.

“I do have pro-Russia standpoints,” Woodall told Raw Story in August 2023. “I’m not shy about that.”

Raw Story attempted to reach Woodall for comment for this story. A woman who answered the phone indicated that she would pass along a message to him, and then hung up without answering questions..

Last summer, Biden issued an executive order to deploy up to 450 members of the Individual Ready Reserve for Operation Atlantic Resolve, a mission led by the U.S. Army that “dates back to 2014 when the United States began an effort to bolster the NATO alliance in the wake of Russian military actions in Ukraine,” according to the Office of Inspector General at the Defense Department.

Woodall told Raw Story at the time that he did not believe his pro-Russia views would preclude him from serving in the U.S. military, were he to be called up.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion on any subject matter that they deem to be in their wheelhouse of understanding,” he said. “Even if I were still enlisted, it wouldn’t have any bearing on my serving. I’m not providing financial support to any side in the conflict. Having an opinion on who is right in a conflict is a First Amendment matter.”

Missing the weeds for the field?

Beirich, of the Global Project on Hate and Extremism, told Raw Story she hopes the Army Human Resources Command’s handling of the Woodall investigation is an outlier, and not indicative of how the armed forces as a whole is handling reports of extremist activity within the ranks.

In the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, with media reports highlighting the participation of military veterans and active-duty service members, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a “stand-down” to address extremism in the military.

“The Army has a standard on extremism and not living Army values,” Scott, the spokesperson for the Human Resources Command, told Raw Story. “The Army began a combating extremism campaign in 2021. It’s in our regulations. We’re taught it in Basic Training. The Army does not tolerate behaviors such as extremism, racism and sexual assault. They’re not in line with military values.”

Following the stand-down, Austin issued a memorandum in April 2021 calling for an independent study on extremism in the military.

Despite the fact that the report — by the Virginia-based nonprofit Institute for Defense Analyses — was completed in June 2022, it remained shelved for 18 months. Then, following repeated requests from USA Today, the Defense Department quietly released the report the day after Christmas in 2023.

ALSO READ: Inside the neo-Nazi hate network grooming children for a race war

Far from a bracing call for bold action, the report urged military leaders to take a cautious approach when attempting to root out extremism within the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard.

“Although disciplinary actions are necessary in some cases, they could become counterproductive if they are overused and alienate a significant portion of the larger force,” the report advised, adding that one commander interviewed by the authors told them “that military leaders need to be alert to the impact of their actions on ‘the whole field, not just a few of the weeds.”

Beirich, who has been pushing the Pentagon to address extremism for decades, said the report’s conclusions seem illogical.

“They indicate this could increase polarization or divisiveness,” Beirich told Raw Story. “I’m just hard pressed to understand how it’s polarizing to root violent extremists out of the military. It’s almost like you’re implying that there are a lot of violent white supremacists in the military, and you don’t want to anger them. That’s just not true…. Generally, people are united in not wanting white supremacists in the military.”

Beirich noted that the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act stripped out provisions for addressing extremism in the military, and the Senate Armed Services Committee issued a report on a party-line vote controlled by Republican members calling on the Pentagon to suspend its efforts to root out extremism.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), a member of the committee, has said, when asked if “white nationalists” should be allowed to serve in the military, that he calls those white nationalists “Americans.”

“Because Republicans — many of them are on record saying things like, ‘You’re just besmirching the armed forces’ — the DOD under this pressure and maybe from within the agency is not taking this issue as seriously as in the months after January 6,” Beirich told Raw Story.

The authors of the report commissioned by the Defense Department recommended that, if anything, military leaders should signal to both service members and the general public that nothing has changed.

“Senior officials interviewed by the IDA team indicated that the military services are already taking a modulated approach to extremist behaviors and activities, avoiding the application of disproportionate disciplinary measures,” the report said. “A clear message from senior officials would be helpful to assure the Force that individual cases will continue to be judged on their merits and to ensure that the new policy is not construed either inside or outside the department as changing that approach.”

Army blows off Republicans' request to keep Confederate memorial: report

The U.S. Army has reportedly decided it will move forward with the removal of a Confederate memorial, despite the fact that dozens of Republican lawmakers cautioned against it.

The Army says it will start next week on the removal of the memorial from the Arlington National Cemetery, according to the Washington Post.

"A woman representing the American South, standing atop a 32-foot pedestal, lords above most other monuments within America’s most revered resting place," it reported. "It portrays, according to the cemetery’s website, a 'mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery.'"

ALSO READ: A Christmas wish: Republican immigration policy worthy of Baby Jesus

The Army was planning to remove the memorial as part of its ongoing efforts to rid itself of "rebel imagery," according to the Washington Post. But Republicans then stepped in.

"This month, 44 Republican lawmakers cautioned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the first African American to hold the post, that the Pentagon would overstep its authority by removing the memorial and they demanded that all efforts to do so stop until Congress works through next year’s appropriations bill," the Saturday article states. "The memorial 'commemorates reconciliation and national unity,' not the Confederacy per se, the group led by Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (Ga.) claimed."

Apparently, that wasn't enough to disrupt the Army's plans.

"The Army, which operates Arlington Cemetery, informed lawmakers Friday that it would proceed with the monument’s removal, officials told The Washington Post, because it was required by the end of the year to comply with a law to identify and remove assets that commemorate the Confederacy," according to the article. "A congressional commission had previously decided the memorial met the criteria for removal. The task will cost $3 million."

You can read the full article from the Washington Post right here.

U.S. Army reservist ran a ‘white nationalist’ training camp and touted KKK ties

GREENSBORO, N.C. — An avowed white nationalist who openly supports Russia is a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, recently served in the North Carolina Army National Guard and worked for a local sheriff’s office as a detention officer, according to a Raw Story investigation.

Christopher Woodall, 34, of Winston-Salem, N.C., has a long history of activism in the white power movement that coincided with his service in the U.S. military and government work.

In an interview this week with Raw Story, Woodall acknowledged that he is the author of texts that promote a “white nationalist training group," and added: “I don’t see it as an issue to have a white-friendly group of people that get together and teach each other.”

Woodall’s extremist resume, by his own account, includes involvement with the Ku Klux Klan and National Socialist Movement, the latter being a violent neo-Nazi group whose membership peaked in the mid-2000s. In 2021, Woodall indicated in text messages that he was an active member of a chapter of the chapter of American Guard — a group aligned with the Proud Boys but with more pronounced white nationalist leanings — for the western half of North Carolina. And recently, he organized what he described to online acquaintances as a “white nationalist training group.”

While enlisted in the North Carolina Army National Guard and continuing as a member of the Army Reserve, Woodall made statements in support of Russian military activity in Ukraine — siding with a country that President Joe Biden has said “poses an immediate and persistent threat to international peace and stability.” The United States is committing to billions of dollars in aid to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

As a member of the North Carolina Army National Guard until this past April, Woodall actively trained with a unit that was on call to respond to orders from the governor to assist during hurricanes or quell riots — “to protect life and property and to preserve peace, order and public safety,” as the state Department of Public Safety explains it.

When Woodall separated from the North Carolina Army National Guard on April 18 following completion of a four-year contract, he went into the U.S. Army Reserve Control Group, also known as the “inactive ready reserve,” spokesperson Patrick Montandon said.

Montandon told Raw Story that Woodall’s status doesn’t require him to “come in for drills” and “he’s no longer assigned to a specific unit,” but is “on call if there was ever a need for additional service members to be called in for unique circumstances.”

Reached by Raw Story, Woodall disputed the National Guard’s claim that he remains a member of the reserve.

Informed of Woodall’s white supremacist activity, Montandon told Raw Story: “I will take that into account and speak with those that need to know that information.” He added, “I can’t speak on behalf of what action would be taken or not taken.”

Asked for the North Carolina National Guard’s position on white supremacist or extremist activity by its members, Montandon later provided a written statement citing a guidance from the U.S. Department of Defense that “expressly prohibits military personnel from actively advocating supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang doctrine, ideology, or causes or actively participating in such organizations.”

Guarding jail inmates

Woodall was also recently employed by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office as a detention officer at the Greensboro jail.

He was hired in September 2020 and voluntarily resigned in February 2022, according to a response from the agency to a public records request by Raw Story.

Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers said in a prepared statement on Wednesday that Raw Story’s reporting “was the first notice the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office had received of these allegations.”

Because the sheriff’s office could not independently confirm Woodall’s reported activities, Rogers declined to comment further about Woodall, but added: “The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is, however, a racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse organization and condemns any type of discrimination based on those factors.”

Woodall told Raw Story he voluntarily left the sheriff’s office because he didn’t appreciate how he “was treated by leadership” and because the job was stressful. The sheriff’s office said in response to the public records request that “Mr. Woodall did not have any disciplinary actions resulting in dismissal.”

Woodall was previously suspended from the sheriff’s office for seven days in September 2021 for discipline, according to the agency He told Raw Story that the discipline resulted from him getting into a fistfight outside of work during a road-rage incident, adding that the other individual struck him first. Woodall was charged with “misdemeanor simple affray.”

Woodall told Raw Story that the other man didn’t show up in court, and court records reviewed by Raw Story show that the district attorney dismissed the charge.

‘We are a brotherhood and a war band’

Following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a working group to root out extremism from the U.S. military.

But a recent investigation by USA Today found that more than two years later few of its recommendations have been implemented, including one that would require recruiters to screen applicants by asking about past membership in extremist groups or participation in violent acts. An audit released last week by the Inspector General for the Defense Department echoes USA Today’s reporting, including a finding that only four out of 10 recruits in a sample were asked about or responded to questions about extremist or criminal gang affiliation.

Extremist activity in the military and among veterans, which received significant scrutiny after Jan. 6, is a politically fraught topic, even researchers have reached different conclusions.

A recent report by the RAND Corporation found that support for extremist elements such as the Proud Boys, QAnon and political violence, in general, were lower among veterans than the general population, but a report by the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism found that affiliation with the U.S. military is the “single strongest” predictor of violent extremism in America.

Woodall, for his part, is a frequent user of the encrypted messaging app Telegram, which is popular among right-wing extremists, and he administered a channel that was originally set up in September 2021 for “patched” members of the North Carolina American Guard Western Division chapter.

As former officers of the chapter became inactive, Woodall repurposed the channel as a platform to recruit for his white nationalist paramilitary training group. Raw Story reviewed dozens of text and audio chats by Woodall as he interacted with about eight different users.

Members of the chat made little effort to downplay race as an organizing principle.

On Telegram, Woodall invited “like-minded folk” to attend paramilitary-style trainings to learn about firearms, tactical gear and survivalism. The only eligibility requirement, he said, was “dedication to learning and being part of a brotherhood and a tribe here in NC that will look out for one another if SHTF.” (The acronym stands for “s--- hits the fan.”)

Christopher Woodall, posting under the screen name "Berserker," invites white nationalists to a join a paramilitary training group in central North Carolina in January 2023.Telegram screengrab

Reached by phone, Woodall did not deny that he made the posts to the Telegram chat about recruiting for the training group. Asked by Raw Story about the purpose of the trainings, Woodall said preparation for “SHTF” was “a generalization for a societal collapse.”

One member of the chat, who went on participate in Woodall’s training camp, celebrated Robert Jay Mathews — founder of the violent white power group the Order, who was killed during a shootout with the FBI in Washington state in 1984 — as an inspiration for “future leadership to rise to the occasion and other men to follow in their footsteps.”

Woodall himself ran a TikTok channel whose bio included the acronym “WPWW,” which stands for “white pride world wide,” and made a post with the inscription “RaHoWa,” short for “racial holy war.”

Woodall told Raw Story his use of the phrase was “satire.”

A video of one of Woodall’s trainings that was initially shared on his TikTok account, shows Woodall and three other men who are dressed in tactical gear advancing in formation and firing assault rifles. In mid-March, Woodall reshared the video, which is set to an electronic dance music and heavy metal soundtrack, on Telegram.

“Here’s a video from our last session. If anyone is foggy on the nature of our activities,” he wrote at the time.

Woodall had mentioned in the chat in late January that the group had property in Reidsville, N.C. — a small city north of Greensboro — suggesting the training recorded in the video took place at that location.

There was no age restriction for the white nationalist training group. One Telegram user in Durham told Woodall that he would have trouble getting transportation to the trainings “partially because I’m young and live with my parents,” adding that he could probably make it in the summer.

Woodall replied, “Just let me know and we’ll get you plugged in with the crew.”

To another user who asked whether teenagers could attend, Woodall replied: “All family is allowed. Young and old.”

Woodall and the other participants felt comfortable talking about firearms training and various strains of white nationalist ideology under the apparent belief that the channel was closed. It was not.

“This is a private chat,” Woodall wrote in March. “No worries.”

He went on to share his qualifications: “I have 8 years experience in the Army (combat arms), and Law Enforcement. A further 2 years of private out of pocket training with various groups and instructors in CQB [close-quarters combat], Contractor courses, and defense scenarios.”

Despite Woodall’s assurance, the chat was, in fact, not private. The chat was discovered by anonymous antifascist researchers in North Carolina, who then determined Woodall’s identity. Raw Story independently confirmed Woodall’s identity by comparing his various social media accounts, and when asked, Woodall did not dispute that he was the author of the Telegram posts.

Message posted by Christopher Woodall in a Telegram channel in March 2023Telegram screengrab

From January through March 2023, Woodall repeatedly solicited Telegram users to join his “white nationalist training group,” often addressing users individually. The solicitations almost invariably included the phrases “training group,” “firearms,” “brotherhood” or “tribe” — or, in one instance, “war band,” — and “SHTF.”

When Woodall first issued an invitation to join the trainings, he announced that they would take place once a month. But by March, he said he hoped to increase to twice a month as the group grew. On occasion, when access to a firing range wasn’t required, he said, they would convene at a “clubhouse” on his property in Winston-Salem, N.C., for a “home station meet.” Eventually, he said, he planned to start collecting dues.

In late March, Woodall put out a notice for a training to be conducted on private property outside of Salisbury, N.C., roughly midway between Greensboro and Charlotte, for the second Saturday in April.

The agenda, according to Woodall’s message, included “firearms fundamentals/live fire”; “team movement/CQB” — an acronym for “close quarters battle”; and “SALUTE/LACE reports,” two acronyms that respectively address assessments of opposing forces while on patrol and the capacity of one’s own force.

Then, six days before the training, Woodall abruptly announced: “Sorry guys, but I’ve officially killed the group. Sudden, I know, but I’m tired of people being fair weather warriors if that makes sense. No more training, at least not by me. We are still open to meeting everyone here and at least becoming Tribe together.”

Despite disavowing “groups” following the cancellation of the April 8 training, Woodall still aspired to gather like-minded white nationalists together in central North Carolina.

When a new member joined the chat in early June, Woodall explained, “I’ve always wanted to get everyone together for a meet and greet, but it doesn’t seem like anybody wants to take the time or effort to do so really. I’ve kept the chat open just in case, but if you’d like to try to get something together, feel free to reach out.”

To the same user, Woodall expounded, “Groups really aren’t the way to go anymore IMO. I’ve done everything from running a state for the KKK to larping [live-action role play] for the NSM. I’ve been in too many political groups to name, brother. They all end up the same. All talk, lots of drugs usually, lots of useless hot air. It’s the biggest reason that I preach tribalism these days. My buddies’ families and mine are bound and we’ll have each other’s backs if SHTF.” (Woodall’s past involvement with the Ku Klux Klan is by his own account and could not be independently verified by Raw Story.)

He added: “But since there’s been some renewed activity here, I’m going to try to orchestrate maybe a cookout at a park somewhere next month and invite everyone.”

Stephen Piggott, a researcher and program analyst at the Western States Center who focuses on white nationalist, paramilitary and anti-democracy groups, told Raw Story it’s always concerning when white nationalists move from online networking to in-person mobilizations.

“When you add firearms and routine training with firearms to the equation, the potential for violence increases dramatically,” Piggott said in an email to Raw Story. “These guys are not going to the range to practice target shooting, they are actively preparing for conflict.”

In one of the Telegram messages, Woodall wrote that “similar ideology and the importance of communicating with people that believe the same things as we do” were important principles for the trainings, and he acknowledged to Raw Story that the trainings were “for white people.”

But he repeatedly insisted the trainings were not violent or insurrectionary.

“I don’t espouse violence against anyone for any reason unless it’s self-defense,” he told Raw Story. He also said, “I don’t espouse overthrowing any government.” And: “I don’t espouse a white takeover of any country.”

Piggott told Raw Story that Woodall’s statements should be treated with skepticism.

“We can’t see into this man’s heart, but there’s little to indicate that his activities are doing anything other than preparing for violence,” Piggott said. “His social media postings of ‘no political solution’ and ‘ra-ho-wa,’ short for ‘racial holy war,’ are indicators that he ascribes to the view that for white nationalists to succeed requires a violent overthrow of the current system.”

Pro-Russian content on TikTok

While the Telegram chats focused on firearms training and food-related topics like canning and raw milk, Woodall explored a different topic in his TikTok channel: Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

One video shared on Woodall’s account promotes the view that Russia is winning the war — an assessment most U.S.-based national security analysts reject.

He also commented favorably about Russian forces fighting a battle while outnumbered on a pro-Russia TikTok account that highlights Russian military successes.

The pro-Russia TikTok account had previously complimented Woodall for a weight-lifting video he posted, writing, “Holy s— you are strong.”

“I’m trying, brother,” Woodall replied, adding a smiling face emoji.

“I do have pro-Russia standpoints,” Woodall told Raw Story.

While Woodall disputed the assertion by the National Guard that he’s still enlisted in the reserve forces, he said he doesn’t think his pro-Russia views would pose a conflict with military service, even considering the United States’ adversarial relationship with Russia and military support for Ukraine.

“It is not, because everyone is entitled to their opinion on any subject matter that they deem to be in their wheelhouse of understanding,” Woodall told Raw Story. “Even if I were still enlisted, it wouldn’t have any bearing on my serving. I’m not providing financial support to any side of the conflict. Having an opinion on who is right in the conflict is a First Amendment matter.”

Woodall’s support for Russia compounds the concerns surrounding his white nationalist activity, Piggott said.

“Right now, the military is under increased scrutiny for allowing white nationalists into its ranks because they pose a significant danger to American communities and American defense,” he said.

Heather Hagan, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army, referred questions about Woodall to the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va. The bureau, in turn, referred questions about Woodall to the North Carolina National Guard.

Trump's handling of classified docs prompts Iran envoy to be put on leave: report

U.S. special envoy for Iran Rob Malley has been placed on unpaid leave amid an investigation into the possible mishandling of classified material, CNN reported on Thursday.

"A US official said that Malley’s clearance was suspended amid a State Department diplomatic security investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information. Another source familiar with the matter said he was placed on unpaid leave on Thursday afternoon," reported Kylie Atwood, Alex Marquardt, Jeremy Herb, and Zachary Cohen. "'I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave,' Malley told CNN."

"For a period of time following the State Department investigation, Malley remained on the job but was not allowed to access classified information, said the US official, who requested anonymity while discussing a sensitive matter," the report continued.

The exact details of how classified material might have been mishandled is not being shared.

In his role as special envoy, Malley was navigating a number of difficult geopolitical issues, including trying to broker the release of Americans wrongfully detained in Iran.

All of this comes as former President Donald Trump faces criminal charges for stashing boxes full of highly classified national defense information at his Mar-a-Lago country club, allegedly ordering aides like bodyguard Walt Nauta to move the boxes around between multiple unsecured rooms to hide them from federal investigators and even from Trump's own attorneys warned him of indictment.

Trump-linked Christian group reportedly hopes to gain power through 'army of believers'

A conservative Christian movement that has been quietly consolidating power for years is now making moves, and it's all starting in Pennsylvania, according to a report from Salon.

The movement is centered on "unfriending" anyone who believes any differently, including other less-extreme sects of Christianity, according to Frederick Clarkson, a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates. Writing for Salon, Clarkson added that Pennsylvania is the first target.

"'You've got a friend in Pennsylvania!' was the theme of the state's ad campaign to promote tourism in the 1980s. That was a veiled historical reference to the Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers, the liberal Christian sect to which William Penn, for whom Pennsylvania is named, belonged," Clarkson writes. But since the early 2000s there has been a quiet campaign in the Keystone State and beyond to unfriend anyone outside certain precincts of Christianity — and most Quakers would almost certainly be among the outcasts."

That campaign "got a lot less quiet" this April, as many leaders of the neo-charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, who have been hiding in plain sight for a generation, "began ramping up a contest for theocratic power in the nation and the world." Their first target is Pennsylvania, but there will be many more cities on the schedule, court records show.

"On April 30, Sean Feucht, a musician and evangelist for conservative Christian dominion, spoke at Life Center Ministries, the Harrisburg megachurch of Apostle Charles Stock. (The honorific 'Apostle' designates a leading church office in the NAR. That said, there are many apostles in the movement, and not all of them pastor churches.) During his appearance, Feucht highlighted his national tour of state capitals, called Kingdom to the Capitol, that he was conducting along with Turning Point USA, the far-right youth group led by Charlie Kirk. "[W]e are going to end this 50-state tour here in Harrisburg," he announced.

US Army soldier pleads guilty to helping ISIS carry out attacks on US troops

A U.S. Army soldier from Ohio has pleaded guilty to helping ISIS militants ambush and kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York.

Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, faces up to 40 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. military service members.

After joining the Army in 2019 and being assigned as a cavalry scout in Georgia, he began researching online propaganda promoting jihadists and expressed his support for ISIS. In 2020, he began communicating with an undercover agent posting as an ISIS militant.

Bridges provided the agent with "training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City," prosecutors said.

"As he admitted in court today, Cole Bridges attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his fellow soldiers in service of ISIS and its violent ideology," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York said in a statement. "Bridges's traitorous conduct was a betrayal of his comrades and his country. Thanks to the incredible work of the prosecutors of this office and our partners at the FBI and the U.S. Army, Bridges's malign intent was revealed, and he now awaits sentencing for his crimes."

Read the full press release here.

US Senate passes act to help veterans with health issues from toxic burn pits

Activist John Feal (L) and comedian Jon Stewart (C) exit the US Capitol after the Senate passed the PACT Act in Washington, DC

Washington (AFP) - US senators on Tuesday approved benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, which President Joe Biden, who believes his son Beau died of such exposure, has called a "decisive and bipartisan win."

Open trash fires have been commonly used by the US military in conflicts after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and are lit to get rid of everything from plastic bottles to human waste and old tires -- all incinerated with jet fuel.

But the fumes from these holes in the ground are suspected of causing a range of illnesses among soldiers, from chronic respiratory ailments to a variety of cancers.

Biden believes the pits are at the root of the brain cancer that claimed the life of his son Beau, who served in Iraq in 2008.

By 86 votes to 11, the Senate passed the PACT Act, which expands the window of eligibility for free medical care and ensures that, for certain respiratory illnesses and cancers, veterans will get disability benefits without having to prove they were made sick by exposure to the pits.

The passage came just days after Republican senators had rejected the bill, triggering withering condemnation from veterans groups and activists, including the outspoken comedian Jon Stewart, who had championed the cause.

Biden welcomed the approval of the act, saying, "While we can never fully repay the enormous debt we owe to those who have worn the uniform, today, the United States Congress took important action to meet this sacred obligation."

He said the new law would be "the biggest expansion of benefits for service-connected health issues in 30 years and the largest single bill ever to comprehensively address exposure to burn pits."

'Proper care' for exposure

Vice President Kamala Harris said that "too many of our veterans and their families have long waited for this day. With today's passage of the PACT Act, our veterans will finally see an expansion of their health benefits and proper care for burn pit exposure. They deserve it."

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that some 3.5 million US service members were exposed to toxic smoke in Afghanistan, Iraq or other conflict zones, and more than 200,000 veterans have registered on lists of people who came into contact with burn pits.

The Pentagon funded a $10 million study in 2018 that concluded there was "a potential cause and effect relationship between exposure to emissions from simulated burn pits and subsequent health outcomes."

Until now, nearly 80 percent of veterans' requests to have suspected burn pit ailments acknowledged by the government were rejected, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).

A poll by the organization found that 82 percent of those questioned said they were exposed to burn pits or other airborne toxic chemicals.

Of these people, 90 percent said they are or may be suffering from symptoms linked to that exposure.