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Journalists Catherine Herridge and Michael Shellenberger shared disturbing details Friday proving that it was no conspiracy theory on how severely the Biden administration was trying to silence and prosecute conservative Americans. It was very real, and chilling.
In a post on X Friday morning, Herridge announced:
NEW: Biden Administration Labeled Opponents Of Covid Mandates As “Domestic Violent Extremists,” Newly Released Documents Show
The designation infringed on the First Amendment and opened the door to investigating Americans for vaccine mandate skepticism.
The Biden Administration labeled Americans who opposed the COVID-19 vaccination and mask mandates as “Domestic Violent Extremists,” or DVEs, according to newly declassified intelligence records obtained by Public @shellenberger @galexybrane and Catherine Herridge Reports. The designation created an “articulable purpose” for FBI or other government agents to open an “assessment” of individuals, which is often the first step toward a formal investigation, said a former FBI agent.
The report, which the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has declassified, claims that “anti government or anti authority violent extremists,” specifically militias, “characterize COVID-19 vaccination and mask mandates as evidence of government overreach.” A sweeping range of COVID narratives, the report states, “have resonated” with DVEs “motivated by QAnon.”
The FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) coauthored the December 13, 2021 intelligence product whose title reads, “DVEs and Foreign Analogues May React Violently to COVID-19 Mitigation Mandates.”
The report cites criticism of mandates as “prominent narratives” related to violent extremism. These narratives “include the belief that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe, especially for children, are part of a government or global conspiracy to deprive individuals of their civil liberties and livelihoods, or are designed to start a new social or political order.
“It’s a way they could go to social media companies and say, ‘You don’t want to propagate domestic terrorism so you should take down this content,’” said former FBI agent Steve Friend.
NEW: Biden Administration Labeled Opponents Of Covid Mandates As “Domestic Violent Extremists,” Newly Released Documents Show
The designation infringed on the First Amendment and opened the door to investigating Americans for vaccine mandate skepticism.
The Biden Administration… pic.twitter.com/BFbffO0xUC
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) May 23, 2025
In a second post, Herridge added:
A separate February 2022 report called “Special Analysis: Joint Analytic Cell” investigates the “Sociopolitical Factors Amplifying Persistent Domestic Violent Extremist Threat.”
The newly declassified report seems to draw a straight line between opposition to vaccine mandates and elevated levels of domestic terrorism.
However, a close reading of the report’s statistics reveals that of the 2950 domestic terrorism cases handled by the FBI, the vast majority were “related to the 6 January siege of the US Capitol.”
Those cases included “parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building.”
A separate February 2022 report called “Special Analysis: Joint Analytic Cell” investigates the “Sociopolitical Factors Amplifying Persistent Domestic Violent Extremist Threat.”
The newly declassified report seems to draw a straight line between opposition to vaccine mandates… pic.twitter.com/0oLkXZyGWD
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) May 23, 2025
Shellenberger posted a screenshot of a Substack report and wrote, “The idea that the Biden administration viewed millions of Americans as a terrorist threat sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it’s not. Newly declassified documents show that in December 2021, the FBI and DHS labeled opponents of Covid mandates “Domestic Violent Extremists.””
The idea that the Biden administration viewed millions of Americans as a terrorist threat sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it’s not. Newly declassified documents show that in December 2021, the FBI and DHS labeled opponents of Covid mandates “Domestic Violent Extremists.” pic.twitter.com/9GyQdIoptn
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) May 23, 2025
Document 2 (of 2) pic.twitter.com/qfFzEStLCj
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) May 23, 2025
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