ADL: FBI search of Mar-a-Lago sparks violent online rhetoric

BOSTON - The Anti-Defamation League is reporting that violent rhetoric has increased online since the FBI's search of former President Trump's Florida home.

Ben Popp, an investigative researched at the ADL's Center on Extremism has been tracking the inline chatter and says it is similar to what was seen in the lead up to the January 6th riot at the Capitol.

"We're seeing more like non-specific violent fantasies which actually kind of mirrors what we saw prior to January 6th as well," Popp said. "We've definitely seen an increase in violent rhetoric toward a lot of federal government agencies such as the FBI, department of justice, even the IRS."

According to screenshots provided to WBZ by Popp, one Trump supporter took to the social media site Gab to write, "Can we hang America's traitors now?" Another supporter wrote, "locked and loaded" and "Are we not in a cold civil war at this point?"

The anger has boiled over into actual violence. One man tried to force his way into an FBI field office in Cincinnati wearing body armor and carrying a long gun. Law enforcement shot and killed the suspect after an hours long standoff.

Popp says New England-based Neo-Nazi group NSC-131 has not weighed in on the search of Mar-a-Lago.

Even though most of the rhetoric remains online, Popp has a warning for law enforcement.

"If we learned anything from January 6th, it's that this type of violent rhetoric online can transform into real world physical political violence," he said.