Trump loyalist who wants to set up 51st state based on far-right Christian values accused of domestic terrorism

Matt Shea dismisses official report as ‘sham investigation’

A Republican politician and loyal supporter of Donald Trump who wants to establish a 51st state based on far-right, Christian values, has been accused of taking part in domestic terrorism against the US government.

Matt Shea, 45, who represents a district in eastern Washington at the state legislature, was found to have travelled across the state to meet with extremist groups, condoned the intimidation of opponents and promoted training for armed militias, accused of having links to extremists and hate groups.

“Representative Shea, as a leader in the Patriot Movement, planned, engaged in and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States government in three states outside the state of Washington over a three-year period,” the report said. “In one conflict representative Shea led covert strategic pre-planning in advance of the conflict.”

Following the release of the report, commissioned by the lower chamber of the state legislature, and conducted by outside legal investors Mr Shea declined to speak with, Republicans in the state capital, Olympia, announced he had been suspended from any role he had in the party’s activities.

“House Republican leadership has suspended representative Matt Shea from the caucus and removed him from his ranking position on the House Environment and Energy Committee,” said the GOP leader in the chamber, JT Wilcox. “He will also be removed from his House committees.”

Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, said on Twitter: “There is no place in WA for hate or violence, especially from those who have been elected by the people. This report is disturbing and these actions should be unacceptable to Washingtonians of all political parties.”

The notoriety of Mr Shea, who celebrated the president’s 2016 election victory as “a repudiation of the policies of tyranny [and a] refounding of America”, shifted from the far east of the state, to lodge in the national consciousness with the production this year of a series of podcasts, titled Bundyville: The Remnant, which examined the circumstances of two stand offs with federal agents involving members of the Bundy family, a ranching clan based in Nevada.

The second incident, which drew various far right and white supremacist militia supporters to support the occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2015, resulted in one protester being shot and killed and dozens arrested.

The podcast also highlighted how Mr Shea, who served 10 years in the US army after graduating from Gonzaga University, a private, Catholic college, wished to establish a 51st state, named Liberty, in the east of Washington, which would be based on far-right, Christian values.

In 2018, the Spokane-Review newspaper reported how Mr Shea, a lawyer, distributed a four-page manifesto titled the “Biblical Basis for War”.

It describes the Christian god as a “warrior,” detailed the composition and strategies of a “Holy Army” and condemned abortion and same-sex marriage.

The 108-page investigation carried out by a team led by a former FBI agent published by the state government, found that Mr Shea, whose vast district stretches from Spokane to the northeastern border with Idaho, had at least four conversations “with Ammon Bundy and other militia members in the planning and preparation of the armed takeover” of the reserve. It said he “participated in an act of domestic terrorism” when in 2016 he visited the reserve.

Reports said that on the final day of the standoff, when police fatally shot one protester, Mr Shea wrote on Facebook: “After much prayer, I am afraid violence might be necessary to take back our country.”

Mr O’Shea did not immediately respond to enquiries from The Independent or other media. However, on Facebook he likened his treatment to that of Mr Trump.

“Like we are seeing with our president, this is a sham investigation meant to silence those of us who stand up against attempts to disarm and destroy our great country,” he wrote.

“I will not back down, I will not give in, I will not resign. Stand strong fellow Patriots. Thank you to everyone for the massive outpouring of support prayers!”

Investigators have detailed how the overwhelming majority of domestic terrorism in the US is carried out by right wing groups. A report by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) centre on extremism, found that in 2018, all but one of 50 terror deaths was the result of such individuals.

Mark Pitcavage, an analyst of far-right groups who works with the ADL, said Mr Shea was well known to those who studied extremist groups, and had been linked to various movements.

“Since the 1970s, there has been a long history of right wing extremists in the Pacific Northwest, either anti-government extremists or white supremacists,” he said. “One of the reasons is that many of these extremists have urged people to move there. Another, is that because there are a lot of remote places, it has attracted people – whether or not they are political – who want to get away from the world.”

Officials said the Washington state investigation had been forwarded to the FBI.