The FBI director, Kash Patel, said the inquiry followed a far-right influencer’s post about anti-ICE Signal chats
The FBI director, Kash Patel, announced on Monday he was launching a criminal investigation into group chats used by Minneapolis protesters on the Signal messaging app, based on a social media post by the far-right personality Cam Higby.
Patel used the podcast of another rightwing personality, Benny Johnson, to break the news.
Higby had posted on Sunday on X that he had “infiltrated” a group chat on Signal, the widely used communication app that offers effective encryption, populated by anti-ICE organizers in Minneapolis. Higby’s posts appear to show communication between Minneapolis activists in vehicles trying to locate and share the descriptions and license plates of potential ICE vehicles. He argued that the chats have “the sole intention of tracking down federal agents and impeding/assaulting/and obstructing them”.
Higby pushed his disclosures on Johnson’s podcast, The Benny Show, where Johnson demanded a federal investigation.
