Legislature releases documents used to support Matt Shea domestic terrorism finding
OLYMPIA, Wash – More than a month after a report accused Spokane Valley legislator Matt Shea of engaging in domestic terrorism, the Washington legislature has made public the documents used to come to that conclusion.
In December, the Rampart Group finished its report, which was commissioned by Washington lawmakers asking them to look into the activities of the controversial conservative lawmaker.
The group concluded that Rep. Shea engaged in domestic terrorism and repeated calls to arms against the U.S. government. It called him a growing threat of political violence.
In the wake of that report, House leaders suspended Shea from the Republican caucus and removed him from his position on the House Environmental Committee.
Shea did not respond to the group’s request for interviews about the allegations but has since publicly denounced the findings. The findings were also sent to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for possible charges.
The report cited witnesses and documents which are included as footnotes in the original report.
Tuesday afternoon, the House made those documents public. You can read them here.
It includes transcripts of chats between Shea and others and also ethics complaints filed against him. It also includes documents related to Shea’s role in the occupations of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the Bundy ranch standoff in Nevada.
It also includes the document and metadata associated with the “Biblical Basis for War” in which an idea is laid out about able-bodied men preparing for war, outlawing same-sex marriage and the line “if they do not yield – kill all males.”
The document list also contains reports from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office from a woman who identified Shea and others gathered at a Spokane Valley restaurant in 2014. The woman said she overheard a group of men talking about the standoffs. She said she was so concerned, she thought they were planning some kind of attack.
In a post to Facebook on Tuesday, Shea responded the release of documents, saying it “raises more questions than it answers,” and calling the overall report at ‘Shampart Dossier.’
“The more facts come out of this, the more it is clear this was a political hit job/ label-lynching paid for by us taxpayers,” Shea concluded.
Read his full statement below:
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