Is Homeland Security Taking Cues From The Right On Cop City Protestors?

An intelligence report described the demonstrations as a “violent far-left occupation” — a phrase copied directly from an article by Ngo a day earlier.

by Ken Klippenstein, The Intercept

A Department of Homeland Security agency’s intelligence report about the Atlanta protest movement “Stop Cop City” lifted a sentence nearly verbatim from an article published on a far-right news website published a day earlier.

The December 16, 2022, report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Office for Bombing Prevention describes protesters opposed to razing a forest for a massive new police facility as “militants” comprising a “violent far-left occupation” — phrasings identical to an article written by right-wing provocateur Andy Ngo.

“Five militants, part of the violent far-left occupation, were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism and other felony charges,” said the CISA report, referring to protests against the construction of the police facility, dubbed “Cop City” by its opponents.

A day earlier, the Post Millennial, a conservative news outlet founded by Ngo that has faced criticism for its partisan bent and misleading stories on subjects like Covid-19, ran a story with the same sentence, with small cosmetic changes. “Five militants part of a violent far-left occupation in south Atlanta were arrested on Tuesday and charged with domestic terrorism and other felony charges,” Ngo’s original reads. (Neither CISA nor Ngo immediately responded to a request for comment.)