Chat messages, images and videos leaked from the servers of a white supremacist group called the Patriot Front were meant to show its leaders and rank-and-file members conspiring to commit hate crimes despite their claims to be legitimate political groups.

The Patriot Front, or PF for short, was formed after a United Right rally in 2017, a demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, when a rally participant rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters, causing 1 dead and 35 injured. PF founder Thomas Rousseau founded the group after an image posted online showed now-convicted killer James Alex Fields, Jr. Group photo with members of the American Vanguard shortly before the attack. Vanguard America soon disbanded, and Rousseau renamed it PF in order to hide any involvement in violent acts.

Since then, PF has worked hard to portray itself as a group of patriots aligned with the ideals and values ​​of the founders who defeated the tyranny of British colonists in the 18th century and paved the way for the birth of America. When Rousseau announced the creation of PF in 2017, he wrote:

The new name was carefully chosen because of its multiple uses.It can help inspire sympathy among those more inclined to onlookers, and can easily justify our ideology [sic] and worldview. The original American patriots were nothing less than revolutionaries. The word patriot itself comes from the same root as patriline and patriarch. It means loyalty to something that is inherently blood-based.

Turbine Tanks and Rubber Roof Cement

But a published report and the leaked data on which it was based present a very different picture. Chat messages, images and videos were designed to show Rousseau and other PF members discussing the defacement of many murals and monuments promoting Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ groups and other social justice causes.

For example, this chat appears to show a PF member discussing the goals of a civil rights mural in Detroit. When a member asked about the best way to completely cover the mural with paint, Rousseau replied, “It’s in the stencil guide. Turbine tank.” Stencil guide refers to these instructions provided to PF members showing how to use spray paint effectively without being caught. PF members also sent photos of Rousseau’s search for the mural.

When another member discussed the suitability of rubber roof cement to cover the George Floyd memorial treated with anti-graffiti clear paint, Rousseau allegedly responded: “Please keep me informed of your research and practice with this substance. Orders will be dispatched at the event.”

The data dump also appears to document the defacement of a monument in Olympia, Washington.

The leaked data is intended to reveal a range of other illegal activities discussed by the group. These included Rousseau informing members of a planned rally in Washington, D.C., that a participant would call 911 by phone and make a false report to authorities.

“He would cite the protests, he saw shields but no weapons, all those involved seemed peaceful, waving and handing out leaflets, but he was a concerned citizen and suggested the police look into it to make sure every The civil rights of the individual are secure,” Rousseau seemed to write. “He would add that it looks like we just got back from the subway station. This will soften the police before we have mass visual contact on the bridge and provide some confusion and misinformation within the confines of an honest conversation.”

Attempts to contact Rousseau or other PF members were unsuccessful.

The report, published Friday, said the leak included about 400 GB of data from a self-hosted instance of RocketChat, an open-source chat server similar to Slack and Discord. This is just the latest example of hate groups being hacked and their private discussions dumped online. In 2019, the Iron March website was compromised, among other things, many of the site’s members were members of the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, Army, and Military Reserves.