Informant Page #7

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Feeling used.

When we found out like how the

group felt about the situation.

What you're doing is ridiculous,

stupid and dangerous,

the romantic revolutionary kind

of idealism quickly left us.

Reality kind of came

crashing in.

We need to rethink this.

Maybe this is a bad idea.

(chickens clucking)

Brandon:

Being undercover is tricky.

I really wanted just to grab him

and be like, hey,

"What you're doing

is so stupid.

You're going down

the wrong path.

This is ridiculous."

But my role was

to provide information

and try to not influence.

Not to be more radical,

but not to be less radical.

To fit in.

But it tore me up,

it bothered me.

Sometimes like I felt like

I was using Brad and David.

That's something I had

to live with afterwards.

But it wasn't my place

to talk people out of things.

And I think

about that though,

like what if I had

just been like, you know what?

I couldn't of though,

I would've probably went to jail for that.

Maybe not went to jail,

it wouldn't have been good.

Michael:
There's a side of Brandon

that's a huge anti-authoritarian.

So why did he do what his

FBI handlers told him to?

For him it was just,

his loyalty was with the FBI.

Those guys had stood with him

through the devastating

Riad Hammad suicide.

So I think loyalty trumped

anti-authoritarianism at that point.

Brandon:

I was asked by the FBI to get re-involved.

"We'd like you to find out from

David whether or not this is true,

and what he made,

where they are."

My handler warned me, he said,

"Brandon this is where it gets tricky.

If you don't want to do this,

we won't blame you.

But there's a high likelihood

your name is gonna come out,

if you go past

this point with us."

I ultimately decided

to get involved.

I got ahold of David and we

sat on the roof, behind us.

I said, "Hey I heard that you

had made some things."

And then I said, "Well, I don't have a

problem with it, that's why I'm here."

And he said, "Okay, well yeah."

So then he told me what he had done.

And he said that he had made

eight Molotov cocktails.

And I asked him if they were

somewhere safe,

and he told me that they

were in the basement.

I tried to get a gist

of what his plans were,

and that's when he pointed off

in a direction and told me

there was a parking lot

full of police cars.

So the parking lot behind

us, which was the target,

they had 35 people there,

loading and unloading cars,

getting in and out of cars.

And it was right at the end of summer

so the foliage was still thick.

What was on the other side

of the tree line, down the hill.

These were these big bottles

of this homemade napalm mixture.

I knew that if he did it,

it was gonna hurt people.

I knew it would.

David:
Never did I plan to do

anything to hurt anybody.

I wouldn't throw a Molotov cocktail

on a car with a cop in it.

We were gonna do

property damage.

People getting hurt

by the Molotov cocktails

was not a consequence

that I even considered.

And I didn't know

that just having them

was the crime that it was.

Woman:
Hello, this is

a collect call from...

Woman:
...an inmate

at the Sherburne County Jail.

David:
Brandon brought upon

the romantic aspect

of you being a revolutionary

instead of an activist.

That we weren't just

going here to protest,

we were coming here to fight

for our beliefs.

To actually fight.

With him,

we felt like we were legitimate.

Brandon felt like he could take

these young guys,

who reminded him

of himself,

under his wing

and at the same time,

inform on them

for the FBI.

Brandon:

I would like to be able to tell them

and that they should try to get

out of it before it's too late.

"Late" being defined

as being in prison,

being dead,

having to live underground,

or having to then realize

that a mistake was made.

Or having to live with one

of their incendiary devices

having f***ed up

and killed someone.

It was very difficult, you know,

and I was very honest about it.

It was almost like journaling

to the Bureau.

I was very honest about it.

I didn't just write the facts,

I would say here are the facts

and here are my thoughts.

Here are how I feel about

these thoughts.

"I feel as though they are some

strange form of collateral damage.

Not exactly, considering what

they're trying to get involved in.

But in some ways

they are just that,

considering that I'm not attempting

to talk sense into them."

I didn't go into

as a seasoned pro.

I went into it as a person

with a lot of mixed feelings.

You know?

I don't think he thought

through this very well.

I don't think he really realized

the situation he was in

until it was way too late.

He had to choose

whether to go ahead

and put David in prison

for a long time,

or piss off his FBI handlers.

He had to make that choice.

I think it was a painful choice.

Brandon:
So the last night,

before the raid happened,

the FBI had asked me

to wear a wire.

That was very intense.

I realized that David's window

of opportunity to back down,

was starting to shut.

So this is approximately

where David and I sat down

for our last discussion.

We had come

to a cafe here,

the night that he was

gonna throw the firebombs.

I was wearing a wire

for the FBI.

Brandon:

Are you sure they're gonna burn?

David:

Yes, okay? They'll burn.

It might take a while

to get them lit,

but they'll go off

when they break.

What if someone's sleeping in the

car when you firebomb it, man?

- He'll wake up.

- What if he doesn't wake up?

What if he can't

get out?

I was torn.

I was wanting to insinuate to him,

like, dude, you're gonna

get f***ing busted.

You're gonna go to prison

for a long time. Stop.

But I couldn't come out

and say that.

David, what if someone's

in the car, and they die?

That's life, right?

That's how it goes.

"If he gets burnt or he dies

in the process, tough."

Okay.

When he said that,

I realized that that gate just went bam.

And it shut,

completely shut.

He was probably gonna be in

an immense amount of trouble.

We were at

the Hard Times Cafe.

We've made no plans to do anything.

I've agreed to nothing.

Director:

So the first line's gonna be Brandon's.

It's "What if there's

a cop sleeping in the car?"

Dude, what if someone's

in the car and they die?

David:
What if there's a cop in the car?

- Actor David:
I don't care.

David:
What if he's sleeping?

I think he's joking.

When those quotes

were taken away from me,

I was laughing

at that situation.

I wouldn't throw a Molotov cocktail

on a car with a cop in it.

Would you leave the scene if

a cop's burning or dying?

A cop gets burned or maimed,

it's worth it, okay?

David:
I've never used the word

"maimed" ever in my entire life.

David:
That's what he acted like.

That's what he acted like.

I think I agreed to him

saying that.

"Do you think it's worth it

if a cop gets burned or maimed?

If you're fighting

for something you believe in?"

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