A leader of Proud Boys allegedly says he has provided the FBI with information about the antifa networks in Florida and other parts of the United States.
Joseph Biggs, the “thought leader” and organizer of Proud Boys, claimed he had been recruited by the FBI in January 2020, months before being charged over his role in the US Capitol protest, according to a late Monday court filing issued by Biggs’ attorney, J. Daniel Hull.
“In late July 2020, an FBI Special Agent out of the Daytona Beach area telephoned Biggs and asked Biggs to meet with him and another FBI agent at a local restaurant. Biggs agreed,” Hull said.
“Biggs learned after he traveled to the restaurant that the purpose of the meeting was to determine if Biggs could share information about Antifa networks operating in Florida and elsewhere. They wanted to know what Biggs was ‘seeing on the ground,’” Hull added.
They also have had a series of phone calls with him for the additional questions over the next few weeks, the attorney noted.
The claims by Biggs would reinforce the speculations regarding the cooperation of law enforcement forces and the extremist groups under the administration of former President Donald Trump.
It also approves a widely promoted view that the Trump-era intelligence agencies were seeking to inflate the threat of antifa in front of the threat posed by the right-wing groups like Proud Boys.
Antifa was the Trump administration's villainous scapegoat for much of last year's social unrest following the death of George Floyd.
Presiden Biden suggested during a 2020 election debate with Trump that Antifa is just an idea but Proud Boys a real threat.