Podcast Host (0:00)

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Garrison Davis (0:06)

Media. Welcome to it could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis. Last September, President Trump announced a federal crackdown on left wing radical terrorism by signing an executive order dubbing quote unquote, antifa, a domestic terrorist organization, and directing federal law enforcement to investigate potential federal crimes related to political violence, especially stemming from, quote, anti Americanism, anti capitalism, anti Christianity and hostility towards traditional American values, unquote. Last month, the FBI claimed one of their first big victories against so called antifa terrorism since Trump's national security directive. On December 12, the FBI arrested four people in Southern California who the government claims are members of a far left group called the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The criminal complaint, signed on December 13 by an FBI agent working at the Joint Terrorism Task Force office in Los Angeles alleges that these four individuals conspired to construct and detonate a series of bombs in Southern California on New Year's Eve 2025. The four defendants were first charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device. Then on December 23, a federal grand jury indicted them on additional terrorism related felonies. Here's a brief clip from the FBI press conference announcing the arrests where First Assistant U.S. attorney Bill Asali compared the Turtle Island Liberation Front group to antifa. This case is another reminder about the dangers that radicalized antifa like groups pose.

Akil Davis (1:59)

To people, public safety and the rule of law.

Garrison Davis (2:02)

In court documents, the defendants are not just referred to by their legal names, but also by their direct action or signal code names, Audrey Eileen Carroll, AKA Asanak or Black Moon Zachary Aaron Page, AKA AK Ash Carrington or Cthulhu's daughter, Dante Garfield, AKA Nomad and Tina Lie, AKA Kickware. The criminal complaint states that after forming the initial bombing plan, Carol and Paige recruited additional co conspirators who participated in further planning meetings and helped procure bomb bomb making materials. On December 12, the four defendants traveled to a remote location in the Mojave Desert with the alleged intent to build and test explosive devices. An undercover FBI agent was present at the testing site and a surveillance plane observed from overhead. Before the defendants completed assembling a functional explosive device, the FBI arrested Carol, Paige, Garfield and Lai from the court documents that are currently available. The earliest allusion to this New Year's Eve bombing plot is in a signal message dated November 24, 2025, allegedly from one of the defendants, Audrey Eileen Carroll, to whom they believed was a genuine co conspirator but was actually a confidential human source working with law enforcement. According to the indictment this alleged signal message from Carol stated that she and quote unquote Four comrades were planning to go to the desert from December 11th to December 13th, 2025 to quote, test the items we are going to use for those party plans, unquote this message references pre existing quote unquote party plans which any prior origin of has not yet been elaborated on. This confidential human source appears to be an individual embedded in the Los Angeles activist scene. The criminal complaint describes them like this, quote the confidential human source is cooperating with law enforcement and is a validated and vetted source. The confidential human source has been a reliable source of information since in or around August 2021. The confidential human source is cooperating for financial compensation. The confidential human source does not have any criminal history. The confidential human source provided past reliable reporting on other cases and has provided reliable reporting in this case, unquote the quote unquote Turtle Island Liberation Front appears to be a relatively new group with a social media footprint that only goes back to July 2025. The Instagram bio for their LA chapter reads, quote liberation through decolonization and tribal sovereignty, unquote. Their most recent post from December 12, the day of the arrests, is promoting a quote unquote Palestine pop up market in Culver City. A post from November 28 reads, quote, if they hurt you, they hurt me too. Our destinies are intertwined. Liberation for one must mean liberation for all. The empire must fall, and from within the belly of the beast we must be the ones to dismantle it. Revolution is the only way. Stop quote unquote Peaceful protesting Rise up. Fight back. We are not outnumbered, they are. Organize and be ready. Unquote as news of this group and the bombing plot spread around the Internet last month among the left, there was a lot of skepticism pointed at the authenticity of the story and the Turtle Island Liberation Front group itself, with questions pointed at its name and some of the language used in their social media posts. The name derives from a term that some indigenous tribes used to describe the North American continent and is common language among a certain sect of quote unquote land Back activists. The Liberation Front moniker has been used by a collection of direct action based groups, most notably the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation front in the 2000s. Though the turtle Island Liberation Front group doesn't seem to have been a formalized activist group for very long, there were genuine people involved with this group, as evidenced by there being four defendants in this criminal case. The Turtle Island Liberation Front Instagram account was run by one of these defendants and the language used in their posts is not uncommon among the quote unquote anti imperialists whose ideologies garner influence among the American left during Israel's genocide in Palestine. And though both an FBI informant and an undercover employee played a part in this investigation, the group seems to have contained a collection of genuine individuals who have participated in the wider Los Angeles activist scene and especially anti Israel protests. The indictment and criminal complaint outline the material steps that defendants allegedly took to detail the plans of this bombing plot and procure materials to construct explosive devices without material support from FBI sources or undercover employees. All the information in the indictment and criminal complaint is alleged and all the defendants should be considered innocent until proven guilty. The indictment claims that Carol set up an in person meeting for November 26 to discuss the bombing plot with another alleged Turtle Island Liberation Front member, Zachary Aaron Page, and the confidential human source who were instructed to, quote, wear casual, block no devices. If you can't leave it at home, have it turned off and wrapped in tinfoil makeshift Faraday bag, unquote. During this in person meeting, Carol allegedly distributed an eight page handwritten document titled Operation Midnight sun outlining the plan for the bombing to both the confidential human source and co defendant Zachary Page. Carol allegedly retained two to four additional copies of the handwritten plan. The indictment says that Carol explained that the document was handwritten because she, quote, did not want any traces of the attack plan on a computer, unquote. After this meeting, Carol allegedly sent an encrypted message to the confidential human source about the bomb testing camp out in the desert. Quote this trip is very spicy. Lol. We'll be testing the things we're gonna make for December, like the things in the instructions on that document I gave you. Testing first is important so we know how well they work. Lol. The plan was for teams of 4 on the ground participants to plant backpacks containing, quote, unquote, complex pipe bombs or IEDs, improvised explosive devices outside of buildings at five locations targeting two US companies and then simultaneously detonate the bombs at midnight on New Year's Eve 2025. There would be one off the ground member assisting the teams remotely by listening to police scanners or stationed in a vehicle in case, quote, an emergency getaway is needed, unquote. And one member of each on the ground team would create graffiti of, quote, unquote, a red triangle and one message of the team's choosing on the sidewalk closest to the building while the other three are placing the devices, unquote. The indictment claims that the handwritten plan also instructed co conspirators quote, Once you plant your IEDs, if there is any time to safely do so, dump an accelerant around the premises, such as gasoline for added effect. We want to do as much damage as possible. Unquote the plan identified five target locations as quote unquote marks with five more blank slots, captioned add more if enough, comrades. The criminal complaint states that these targets were, quote, property and facilities operated by two separate companies that are used or engaged in activities affecting interstate and foreign commerce, unquote I'm going to quote from three sections of the criminal complaint that outline some of the OPSEC or operational security precautions that are allegedly included in this handwritten plan. Quote the plan described multiple operational security measures the co conspirators should take to conceal their identities, such as the use of a burner phone that would be disposed of after the bombings by, quote, submerging it in a concrete brick after destroying the SIM and then disposing of the brick in a body of water, Unquote. The target date of the operation, New Year's Eve, was identified as an opportune time because, quote, fireworks will be going off at this time, so explosions will be less likely to be noticed as immediately as any normal day. Unquote the plan emphasized that, quote, absolutely no mistakes can be made. Unquote the plans outlined the use of quote unquote black block over top of a layer of quote gray slash casual block on top of normal street clothes and noted to keep hair very tightly concealed and to wear gloves for the purpose of avoidance of leaving behind DNA. The plan further instructed that participants should leave their personal devices at home and to make sure the devices were set up to stream on a long movie during the time of the attacks, as so to craft an alibi or quote unquote plausible deniability by having it appear as though the actor was actively using their devices. The plan discussed pre operational surveillance of targets, identification of D block or D clothing locations, and not leaving, quote, anything other than the IEDs behind, unquote as they could not, quote risk any evidence tracing back to us, unquote. The plan also noted the benefit of placing a small pebble in a shoe to alter natural gait to obfuscate their identification. Instructions on how to purchase materials to construct a pipe bomb suggested using cash only, purchasing in small quantities to avoid suspicion, and splitting purchases amongst a team rather than individually. In addition to the plan of action and operational security tactics, detailed instructions were provided on the components required to build a pipe bomb, as well as how to create homemade Gunpowder. On December 2, there was another in person meeting between the law enforcement source Carol and Page, as well as two other co conspirators to go over the plan. They met again on December 7 to review the bombing plot and allegedly discussed intent to conduct future attacks against federal offices. This meeting was also attended by an undercover FBI employee who was being recruited to join the operation. The undercover asked Carol about the black powder instructions in the handwritten plan, and Carol responded that she conducted the research herself and discussed wanting to test several different types of bomb to determine which could, quote, unquote, completely pulverize their assigned building. On New Year's Eve. To quote the criminal complaint, quote, Carol stated that she had acquired some components, 13 PVC pipes, and that she had bought potassium nitrate on Amazon using a burner account that was scheduled to be delivered on December 11, 2025. During this in person meeting, Carol confirmed that she operated the Turtle Island Liberation Front Instagram account and that she had met a co conspirator through said Instagram account. The indictment claims that Carol told co conspirators in this meeting, quote, what we are about to do that's gonna be like a Luigi level situation, unquote, and that it was time for America to fall and that America falling will make Israel fall. According to the indictment, during this December 7th meeting, Page told attendees, again, including an undercover FBI employee, that they were doing everything quote, to be as clean as possible because 100,000% the FBI is gonna be like on that shit. Yeah. So we all know what we're getting into. Unquote. In person, Page outlined some of the operational security precautions to avoid law enforcement detection, like covering shoes with socks to cover shoe prints and burning shoes. After the bombing, Paige also allegedly asked attendees if they would like to receive firearms training from a group that held a training about a month prior. And Carol said that she had a contact who could obtain unregistered ars. This wasn't the first time Turtle Island Liberation Front members allegedly brought up firearms. The indictment claims that on, quote, December 3, 2025, defendant page, using an encrypted messaging application, asked the confidential human source if the human source was interested in receiving firearms training, explaining his plan to shoot ICE officials. In a voice message to the confidential human source, defendant page stated, quote, I just had this daydream. I. I was like, we're just patrolling or whatever and we're strapped, right? And we see ICE trying to pull up on someone or a group of people and we just like roll up on them, like strapped up, and we're like, nah, get the fuck out of here. They're going to get shot if they try to do anything. Like, we shoot first, we ask questions later. That's the policy. I told that to, in brackets, defendant Carroll. Defendant Carroll knows all about this. And brackets, defendant Carroll was like, yeah, let's fucking do it. But I'm like, seriously, that is what's needed. Maybe if ICE agents, they're like, wait, I don't want to get fucking shot right now. They ain't gonna do it. And if they still try to do it, well, guess what? Welcome to the dirt, motherfucker. Unquote. After sending this voice message, Paige told the Confidential Human Source, quote, let me know when you listen so I can delete it. Unquote. Small lines like that are part of what I find really interesting in this Turtle Island Liberation Front case because the indictment and criminal complaint are just full of the defendants recommending these security folklore practices, like setting up your phone to stream a long movie to create an alibi and placing a small pebble in your shoe to alter your gait. Deleting these messages after you send them, which they're trying to do, all while working with not just an FBI informant, but also an undercover agent. During the December 7th in person meeting, Paige and Carol discussed plans for future attacks after this New Year's Eve bombing plot. Specifically a plan to target ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs starting around January or February 2026, with Carol noting in the meeting, quote, that would definitely take some of them out and would probably scare the rest of them, unquote. Following this meeting, more co conspirators, including an undercover FBI employee, were added to the signal group chat called the Order of the Black Lotus, which Carol described as the radical faction of the Turtle Island Liberation Front and which Paige described as, quote, unquote, super underground. The indictment contains some alleged messages sent to an encrypted group chat. It's unclear if this is specifically the Order of the Black Lotus chat or another Turtle Island Liberation Front related chat, but I will read through some of these messages. Quote, page messaged co conspirators, including defendants Harold and Garfield, quote, death to Israel. Death to the usa. Death to colonizers. Death to settler colonialism. In response to defendant Page's message, defendant Carroll stated, quote, death to them all. Burn it all down. Three burning heart emojis, unquote. Defendant Carroll messaged co conspirators, including Paige and Garfield, quote, I identify as a terrorist and I am a Hamas fangirl. Unquote. Garfield messaged co conspirators including Carol and Page, quote I am here to destroy Zionism by any means necessary. Real activism equals destroying Zionism by any means necessary, even if it's risky. If you aren't willing to die for or lose your freedom, then you're just another toy in the machine. Unquote. Carol messaged, quote glory to the martyrs. Death to Israel three salute emojis and on December 3, defendant Carroll told the Confidential Human Source quote, these fucking SJW peaceful protest libs are insane. Like it's wild to me that I've seen state violence enacted on some people like that and they still think they can keep going with peaceful protest, BS and indirect routes, unquote. Defendants used the Black Lotus Group chat what Carol described as, quote, our group for everything radical, unquote to discuss sourcing bomb making parts including cotton, string and PVC pipes, as well as coordinates for the explosives testing site in the desert, quote where we will set up camp and where we will test, unquote. On the afternoon of December 10, Page messaged the group about just having acquired two parts for the bomb recipe and that starter would be picked up later that day. Page was under FBI surveillance around the time this message was sent and 15 minutes prior to sending this message, Page was seen grabbing a package from an Amazon pickup location. Hours later, FBI agents watched Paige buy pistol primers from a store in Irving, California, quote, dressed in a manner to obscure Paige's identity, namely wearing a medical mask, gloves, ball cap and long sleeve shirt, to quote the criminal complaint. Carroll replied to Paige's messages about obtaining more items from the ingredients list, writing that another package was quote already delivered. Gotta pick it up tomorrow, but yay with four Y's unquote. The criminal complaint says that quote, according to Amazon Records, on December 7, 2025, Carol purchased two 5 pound bags of potassium nitrate, 99% pure prilled KNO3.5 pounds for industrial and technical applications to be delivered to the Amazon counter at the Whole foods located at 3377 South La Ciena Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. The potassium nitrate was delivered on December 11, 2025, unquote. In early December, Carol messaged the Confidential Human Source on Signal a list of components, chemicals and tools, along with prices of the required items. Several of these components were either listed as already purchased or designated to be acquired by another quote unquote Comrade Carol advised the Confidential Human source quote with the list, write it down when you have some time, then I'll delete that message so it's no in the chat. Lol Unquote Carol also told the confidential human source that they should get some burner phones, quote unquote bought with cash only for the bomb testing camp out in the desert. Page instructed the group to only bring two burner phones to use in case of emergencies and for directions on the way out. To quote the complaint, quote, once everyone arrived, their phones would be put in a small cardboard box completely sealed with aluminum. The phones would not be returned until the caravan was out of the campsite and back on the main road, unquote. For getting to the desert, Page wrote that each navigator should have a burner phone and quoting Page in the complaint, quote, no phones besides burners and all phones except navigators to be wrapped in foil or a Faraday bag for the entirety of the trip and install osm. And it is an open source maps, so no corporate tracking, unquote. Garfield wrote, quote, I have a few burners, but I'm saving for the big event, the big party celebrate emoji, unquote. On December 10th, Carol sent the confidential human source a message on signal reading, quote, I kind of had this notebook where I wrote down multiple plans that never happened or got delayed. So it's like my terrorist diary. Lmao. I have to get rid of that. On the morning of December 12, 2025, Carol, Paige, Garfield and Lai traveled to the desert in two vehicles, the confidential human source in one car and the undercover in the other. To quote from the complaint, quote, in the undercover vehicle, Page discussed using cigarettes as a delayed fusing device for the explosives. Once they arrived in the desert in the other vehicle, Carroll explained to lie that the day's events were meant as a test run for the New Year's Eve bombing plot, which Carol described in detail stating, quote, what we're doing will be considered a terrorist act, unquote. In response to Carol's detailing of the New Year's Eve plot, Lai asked if there would be any people at the bombing target locations. Carol responded in the negative, but noted that if they saw any people such as a security guard at any of the locations, they would warn them. At approximately 10:00am the co conspirators arrived at the desert and began setting up a campsite including tents and tables. Based on information from the undercover and confidential human source, Carol, Page and Lai all brought bomb making components to the campsite, including various sizes of PVC pipes, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal, charcoal powder, sulfur powder, and material to be used as fuses, among others. After the undercover alerted law enforcement with a predetermined signal indicating that bomb testing was Imminent FBI personnel intervened and placed Carol, Paige, Garfield and Lai into custody. Unquote. This is a clip from the law enforcement press conference announcing the arrests with Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Los Angeles field office.