FBI reportedly uncovered an extremist group that pursued 'bomb-building' in Jan. 6 case

The more the FBI investigates the January 6 insurrection, the more disturbing the information becomes. That includes the case of Virginia resident Fi Duong, who was recently arrested for his alleged involvement in that attack, and people he associated with as part of a "Bible study" group. Duong, a 14-page FBI document alleges, was pursuing "bomb-building" and had a "cache of weapons" in the months following the insurrection.

According to CNN reporters Hannah Rabinowitz and Katelyn Polantz, "The startling new case, landing six months after the pro-Trump insurrection, adds to the more than 500 Capitol riot federal criminal cases already in court and fleshes out what's known about the Justice Department's understanding of the continued interests of right-wing extremists to allegedly interfere with the U.S. government and discuss with each other how to do so. The new case highlights one group member's apparent interest in a second American civil war."

The FBI's 14-page document, Rabinowitz and Polantz report, was recently filed in court to explain why Duong was being arrested and what the charges are. Duong is facing four federal charges, and they include obstructing an official government proceeding — Congress' January 6 certification of now-President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory in the 2020 election — and entering the U.S. Capitol Building without permission that day. However, Rabinowitz and Polantz note that Duong has not entered either a "guilty" or "not guilty" plea.

But according to Rabinowitz and Polantz, the FBI is alleging that Duong's connection to extremism goes beyond the January 6 attack.

"On January 6 in Downtown Washington," the CNN reporters explain, "Duong spoke with an undercover Metropolitan Police officer, according to his charging papers. Duong was dressed in black, in an alleged effort to disguise himself as the leftist group Antifa, investigators say. During the conversation, Duong asked the undercover officer if they were a 'patriot,' and identified himself as an 'operator.'"

Duong, according to Rabinowitz and Polantz, put a member of the Three Percenters — one of the extremist groups involved in the January 6 insurrection — in contact with members of the "Bible study" group he was a part of. Duong's group, the CNN journalists report, "appeared to exist separately from any known major groups previously identified as taking part in the Capitol riot."

FBI investigators allege that Duong wrote a "manifesto" and said, "If I get into a gun fight with the feds and I don't make it, I want to be able to transfer as much wisdom to my son as possible."

In March, according to Rabinowitz and Polantz, Duong told an undercover FBI agent that "his group tried to be 'cloak and dagger' and wanted to 'build resistances,' according to court records. The agent then attended what the group members called a 'Bible study' meeting at an Alexandria, Virginia house in February, (when) the group members discussed the Bible and secession, weaponry and combat training, and using methods to make their communications private, according to court records."

Rabinowitz and Polantz report that in the months following the January 6 attack, Duong was well-armed.

"Duong had compiled a cache of weapons at his home in Alexandria, investigators say, including an AK-47 and five boxes full of materials to make and test Molotov cocktails," the CNN journalists report. "At one group meeting at Duong's house in May, the undercover agent saw five cardboard boxes filled with about 50 glass bottles, and heard him and another person discuss what they could fill them with to make explosives, according to the court papers."