CNN National Security Reporter Warns: Pro-Trump Extremists Consider the Indictment ‘Worse than Waco’

CNN’s national security correspondent Josh Campbell reported that supporters of former President Donald Trump are saying the indictment is “worse than Waco” in online forums.

Since Trump’s federal indictment, online chatter among his more extremist supporters has caused concern for the FBI, which Campbell reports has been monitoring the discussions for potential threats. Campbell told Sara Sidner that the online “vitriol” has been rampant, and Trump’s supporters are in a rage that the former president is facing federal charges. Their rhetoric, according to Campbell, is echoing past incidents which raised the ire of right-wing extremists:

“There is so much vitriol out there. Obviously there are supporters of former President Donald Trump who are very angry that he’s facing this federal indictment, and we see them taking to a lot of these online forums that have been frequented by extremist groups, some of them describing what’s to come as ‘worse than Waco,’ you know, obviously one of the major events that a lot of these extremist groups look to.”

The siege of the Branch Davidian compound outside of Waco, Texas that took place in 1993 has been cited many times as an example of overreach by the federal government. It was what inspired Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of murder and conspiracy charges related to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1994, a year to the day after the climax of the raid in Waco.  To this day, Waco remains a call to arms for right-wing extremists, and Trump held a rally there this past April where he defended the January 6 insurrection:

Trump declared Saturday his “enemies are desperate to stop us,” and “our opponents have done everything they can to crush our spirit and to break our will.”

He added: “But they failed. They’ve only made us stronger. And 2024 is the final battle, it’s going to be the big one. You put me back in the White House, their reign will be over and America will be a free nation once again.”

Campbell added at the end of the segment that while security is ramping up outside the federal courthouse in Miami where Trump is expected to be arrested and arraigned, it’s unlikely that this location would be under threat:

“People who are adherents to Donald Trump’s message are not going to attack Donald Trump, right? He’s in the courthouse. … [T]here are other federal facilities around the country that could pose a challenge. We know the Department of Homeland Security just recently put out a bulletin warning that all these other places could be the target of extremists if they actually moved from plotting to actually acting.”

Trump supporters have gathered outside the courthouse as well as the former president’s resort, Trump National Doral, where protestors have already engaged in more acute acts of violence.