He also attacked the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has designated the Proud Boys as an extremist group repeatedly blamed “lazy journalism” for the prosecution of members and asked supporters to donate towards the legal defence of the Proud Boys in New York. Regarding white nationalists, McInnes said “such people don’t exist”. But it did say that while “the FBI does not and will not police ideology”, the agency “regularly assesses intelligence regarding possible threats and works closely to share that information with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners”. In the Guardian report, the FBI did not directly address the designation or the briefing in response to specific email questions. McInnes said: “Not one reporter talking about this ever spoke to the FBI.” However, the content and timing of the briefing in which McCabe said the FBI had offered this description was confirmed to Oregon Public Broadcasting on Monday by Clark county prosecuting attorney Tony Golik.
He then said: “We are not an extremist group and we do not have ties with white nationalists”, pushing back on a description that Clark county officer commander Michael McCabe had attributed to the FBI. McInnes has previously described the Proud Boys as a gang. He added: “Fine, at the very least this will show jurors they are not dealing with a gang and there is no head of operations.” Referencing the New York group as the “NYC Nine”, McInnes said: “I am told by my legal team and law enforcement that this gesture could help alleviate their sentencing.” “As of today … I am officially disassociating myself from the Proud Boys,” he began. In a sometimes rambling video, McInnes referenced the Guardian story and the prosecution of seven group members over a street brawl in New York city in October, as he offered reasons for resigning from the group.
The move came two days after the Guardian exclusively revealed that the FBI had categorized the Proud Boys as “an extremist group with ties to white nationalism”, in a briefing to Washington state law enforcement.
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