(NewsNation) — More than two years after the riot at the U.S. Capitol and amid a rise in domestic extremism, a group of military veterans is devoting their time and resources to infiltrating neo-Nazi and fascist groups that seek to recruit vulnerable citizens.
Kris Goldsmith helped create Task Force Butler after witnessing the events in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, which he called an “absolute travesty.” He says Republicans in Congress wouldn’t listen to his concerns, so he decided to do something about it himself.
“Task Force Butler was started by a bunch of veterans who wanted to continue our service to our country and protect our democracy in real, tangible and important ways,” Goldsmith said Friday on “CUOMO.”
Goldsmith says he and another Army buddy first infiltrated Patriot Front, which the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center classify as a white supremacist group. It formed as a splinter of Vanguard America, the group responsible for the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, during which anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was killed.
“It’s a deadly neo-Nazi terrorist organization, just covered in red white and blue,” Goldsmith said of Patriot Front.
He and the others in his organization are on a mission to disrupt the groups and reclaim the idea of what it means to be an American patriot and veteran.
“For me to know that among the first two people to die (on Jan. 6) were two veterans … was heartbreaking for me, and it was infuriating because I had spent years working … (to investigate) the way that foreign groups were targeting American troops, veterans and our families, pushing racist and extremist content on us, pretending to be real American veterans, real American veterans organizations, and using our veteran status to grant legitimacy to white supremacy,” Goldsmith said.
Incidents of domestic terrorism increased by 357% from 2013 to 2021, the Government Accountability Office estimated in a February report. Domestic terrorism is defined in U.S. law as criminal acts that appear intended to coerce civilians or influence or affect government.
Data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows the U.S. began to see a rise in domestic extremism at public demonstrations in 2020. By 2021, CSIS notes, more than half of all domestic terrorist incidents occurred during public demonstrations.
“For most people who they’re targeting, these are the most marginalized Americans, and that’s not the America that any of us fought for when we served in Iraq or Afghanistan or any of the previous wars,” Goldsmith said of the extremist groups. “This type of thing is not just happening to public officials. It’s happening to everyday Americans.”
He referenced groups like The Proud Boys, whose members have participated in several anti-LGBTQ protests this year, including one in Los Angeles that ended in a brawl.
Members of Task Force Butler, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, infiltrate such extremist groups to gather evidence of criminal activity for law enforcement, journalists and activists.
As Goldsmith puts it, the task force is “a group of veterans who are hunting down neo-Nazis.”
“We ostensibly fought for every American’s freedom, yet still in the United States today, there’s white supremacists who are terrorizing people around the country,” Goldsmith said. “We’re fed up with it.”