Two National Guardsman Removed from Inauguration Detail for Belonging to "Fringe Right" Group

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The FBI, who undertook the vetting of over 20,000 National Guardsman have reportedly discovered two guardsmen who belong to “fringe right group militias” and have been removed them from the inauguration detail.

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According to the Associated Press, who they two guardsmen are nor the group they belonged to has been detailed by officials and no plot has been found:

Two U.S. Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. A U.S. Army official and a senior U.S. intelligence official say the two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias.

No plot against Biden was found.

The Army official and the intelligence official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity due to Defense Department media regulations. They did not say what fringe group the Guard members belonged to or what unit they served in.

Contacted by the AP on Tuesday, the National Guard Bureau referred questions to the U.S. Secret Service and said, “Due to operational security, we do not discuss the process nor the outcome of the vetting process for military members supporting the inauguration.”

The Secret Service told the AP on Monday it would not comment on if any National Guard members had been pulled from securing the inauguration for operational security reasons.

It’s unlikely that any plot by the military or members of our military will actually occur, yet officials are on high alert due to the storming of the Capitol building during the Trump rally earlier this month.

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However, with the amount of National Guardsmen put on detail during the inauguration, plus this vetting, it would appear to be more of a political show than an actual measure of safety. This show of military force allows the narrative that Trump supporters are dangerous to thrive. This “fear” may also extend to militia groups.

The fact that they won’t tell us what militia groups these two men belong to is bothersome. There are many militias in America, many of which are completely legal and obey the laws. Militia groups have been viewed as extremists no matter how abiding they are to the law. If these two Guardsmen belonged to militia groups we must ask what the government concludes is “fringe right.”

It may be that these two men really do belong to a fringe group, and if it is fringe, then taking them off the detail may not necessarily be the wrong thing to do. Again, given the current political landscape and attitudes towards those who believe in Constitutional rights being vilified, it’s unclear if these two men were realistically a part of “fringe” groups.

 

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