‘AN EXECUTION OR THREE’

Six Men Linked to Far-Right Three Percenters Militia Charged With Conspiracy Over Capitol Riot

Six California men with links to far-right militia group charged with conspiracy as feds widen their net over the Jan. 6 insurrection

Six California men with ties to the far-right Three Percenters militia have been indicted for conspiracy over their role in events leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The federal indictments were reported by The New York Times, which said that they were “the first charges lodged against anyone involved with planning any of the political events held the week of the attack.”

According to the Times, the defendants include Alan Hostetter, whom the paper described as “a former police chief turned yoga instructor,” and Russell Taylor, who is “a wealthy graphic designer with a taste for red Corvettes.” The two men were leaders of the American Phoenix Project—a group set up to fight COVID restrictions—and then embraced Donald Trump’s Big Lie about a stolen election. The indictment said that Hofstetter posted a video on the group’s YouTube channel in November accusing those who did not back Trump of treason. He allegedly said: “Some people at the highest level need to be made an example of, with an execution or three.” Neither man is accused of actually breaching the Capitol although both were said to have joined the riot outside.