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The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a series of nationwide arrests of members of the white nationalist group, Atomwaffen, as the FBI steps up its policing of neo-Nazi groups in the U.S.

John Denton, the former leader of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen, was arrested n the Eastern District of Virginia for his alleged role in coordinating several "swatting events" that targeted a university, a Baptist church and a news organization, among others.

According to a criminal affidavit, Denton allegedly conspired with others to make prank calls through the encrypted app Mumble in order to trick law enforcement dispatchers into believing Denton's intended targets were in imminent danger of death or causing harm to others, often generating significant emergency responses to unwitting individuals or groups.

The targets included an unidentified Cabinet official living in Virginia, Old Dominion University, Alfred Street Baptist Church, the New York City office of ProPublica and an investigative journalist for ProPublica.

"Denton allegedly chose the two targets because he was furious with ProPublica and the investigative journalist for publishing his true identity and discussing his role in Atomwaffen Division," the affidavit says.

In a separate indictment unsealed in the Western District of Washington, four members of the group were arrested in four different states for allegedly targeting journalists and members of the Anti-Defamation League who had outed Atomwaffen’s behavior.

Cameron Brandon Shea, 24, of Redmond, Washington; Kaleb Cole, 24, of Montgomery, Texas; Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, 20, of Spring Hill, Florida; and Johnny Roman Garza, 20, of Queen Creek, Arizona, were all charged in the conspiracy.

[...]

The posters sent to journalists allegedly showed an image of a reporter with a message that read "Two can play at this game," and, "Death to pigs." The men allegedly used encrypted online chat groups to identify journalists they wanted to intimidate.

Shea, one of those arrested, was identified as a high-level member and primary recruiter for Atomwaffen, who coordinated a "Death Valley Hate Camp" in Las Vegas in January 2018, where members of the group "trained in hand-to-hand combat, firearms, and created neo-Nazi propaganda videos and pictures of themselves posing with weapons," according to federal prosecutors.

[...]

As a part of their harassment operation, one member of the group suggested picking targets on the Society of Professional Journalists online directory. One responded that he had picked out "three targets, and one was Jewish." Garza, identified in the indictment, wrote back that he "had found a leader of a 'association of black journalists' in his state."

Cole, one of the Atomwaffen members charged Wednesday, also suggested the group could buy "rag dolls and knives" so the group would leave "a doll knifed through the head at their target locations."

President Trump stumps in support for Roy Moore

Rallying supporters at a venue just 20 miles away from the Alabama border, President Trump sought to discredit one of the women accusing Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct in calling on Alabama voters to vote for the Moore in the upcoming special election.

"How many people here are from the great state of Alabama?" Trump asked the audience about an hour into his remarks at an event by the president's re-election campaign.

"Did you see what happened today? Do you know the yearbook? Did you see that? There was a little mistake made. She started writing things in the yearbook. Oh, what are we going to do? Gloria Allred, any time you see her you know something's going wrong," the president said, referring to the lawyer for Moore accuser Beverly Young Nelson.

Nelson is one of one eight women who have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against Moore and has brought forward a yearbook from 1977 which she says Moore signed prior to allegedly assaulting her. Moore has denied it’s his handwriting in the yearbook, and his supporters have further sought to discredit her story, noting differences in some of the handwriting on the inscription.

Nelson told ABC News Friday that she wrote a note under the inscription she says is Moore's inscription.“I had wrote under it where it happened at,” she said, but maintained that Moore "wrote the note and signed his name.”

The president, who has endorsed Moore in the election despite the multiple sexual misconduct allegations that have been leveled against him, said Friday night that the Republican Party can't afford to lose a vote in the Senate, where Republicans maintain a slim 2-vote majority.

"We cannot afford ...to lose a seat in the very, very close United States senate. We can't afford it, folks. We can't," Trump said. "We can't afford to have a liberal Democrat who is completely controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. We can't do it."

He went on to say, "So get out and vote for Roy Moore."

The White House maintains that the president remains concerned about the allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against Moore but say that Moore's denials should also be taken under consideration.

President Trump's remarks on Moore Friday night was the first time he has touted the candidate in a political campaign setting, but the president has previously made supportive statements about Moore's candidacy -- tweeting on Friday morning "VOTE ROY MOORE!"

Donald J. Trump ?
@realDonaldTrump
LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100% of the time. He’s bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!
2:06 AM - Dec 9, 2017