A leaked FBI list of 'terrorist' symbols includes the original US flag, the Bill of Rights and other 'Revolutionary War imagery'.
Investigative journalist collective Project Veritas published the "Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide", supplied to it by a Federal Bureau of Investigation whistleblower, on Tuesday.
The document makes reference to "Militia Violent Extremists" or MVEs as a threat to law and order and the federal government.
The images on the list include the so-called 'Betsy Ross' flag from 1777, similar to the modern US flag but with a circle of 13 stars representing the 13 colonies that declared independence from Britain the previous year.
References to the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, illustrated with the abbreviation "2A" over a symbol for a handgun, are included in the list.
"MVEs justify their existence with the Second Amendment, due to the mention of a ‘well regulated Militia,’ as well as the right to bear arms," the document says in justification.
Also on the list is the well-known 'Gadsden flag', depicting a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow field with the slogan: "Don't Tread on Me" — used on the cover of thrash metal band Metallica's 1991 'Black Album' — and the 'Tree of Liberty'.
Tweet of an FBI list of symbols used by "Militia violent extremists" and "domestic terrorists", leaked to Project Veritas
The document tries to link militia members to previous acts of terrorism in the US claiming they are "inspired" by Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people in his 1995 truck bomb attack on the Oklahoma City offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
It also gives a list of five people killed by US law enforcement who "MVEs" may consider to be "martyrs".и он
They include Vicki Weaver, who was shot dead by FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi as she held her 10-month-old daughter in the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege in northern Idaho, and Ashli Babbitt, the unarmed US Air Force veteran shot dead by US Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Under "Common phrases and references", the FBI lists several quotes from the US founding fathers and the Second Amendment alongside generic phrases like "I will not comply".