“Lock and load,” was one of the top comments on an online forum dedicated to former President Donald Trump on Monday night, soon after it emerged his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort had been searched by the FBI.
Other posts were more explicit, “I’m just going to say it. [Attorney General Merrick] Garland needs to be assassinated. Simple as that.” Another user posted, “kill all feds.”
Users also encouraged others to post the address of the magistrate judge they believe signed off on the search warrant. “I see a rope around his neck,” a comment under a picture of the judge read.
On the same forum, researchers previously found talk of violence and discussion on how to attack police officers in the weeks leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack.
Amid the users on the forum Monday night was a convicted US Capitol rioter.
One reply to the top-rated “lock and load” post came from an account with the username bananaguard62 and asked “Are we not in a cold civil war at this point?”
By combing through bananaguard62’s posts, Advance Democracy, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that conducts public-interest investigations, identified Tyler Welsh Slaeker as running the account.
Slaeker was charged by the Justice Department last summer in connection with the January 6 attack. Slaeker’s in-laws tipped off the FBI about his presence at the Capitol, according to court filings, making him one of the many January 6 rioters who were turned in by family members.