Shamita Basu

Well, I should ask, I mean, what were you assigned to build a case around with the base?

Like you explain in the book that there's no federal statute for domestic terrorism.

And that's why we see you bringing in people on criminal charges, things like possessions of weapons or drugs.

But just the fact that they were speaking hatefully about groups of people.

or even that they were doing these kinds of rituals like you're describing, that wasn't enough.

Wow.

So these are people that you were able to end up actually charging with what exactly?

With a murder plot?

In addition to the murder plots Scott was hearing about, he also learned of some base members' plans to commit violence at a pro-gun rally in Virginia in January of 2020.

This is a few years after the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, which for many extremists served as an example of how to sow public chaos.

Scott, while undercover, recorded two members of the base as they were planning to, as they put it, get blood on their hands.

The FBI made a series of arrests in a big takedown that month, preventing the Virginia attack and the planned murders from happening.

It was one of Scott's last cases before he retired in 2021.

Today, the FBI's mandate has radically shifted under President Trump and Kash Patel, the head of the agency.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported that the FBI has reduced staffing and resources in an office focused on domestic terrorism threats.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported an uptick in The Base and other neo-Nazi groups' online activity since Trump took office.

I asked Scott for his thoughts on the FBI under Patel.

He said he really doesn't know him or how FBI priorities might be shifting, but that the need to be vigilant is more important than ever.

Scott, thank you so much for your time.

I feel like I could have talked to you for another hour and just listened to some more stories from your life, but they're really fascinating and I appreciate you writing about them.