WASHINGTON — An Alexandria man and his militia group surveilled the U.S. Capitol complex in the weeks following the Capitol riot while stockpiling materials at home to produce Molotov cocktails, according to new charging documents unsealed Monday.
Fi Duong, who the Justice Department says also goes by the names “Monkey” and “Monkey King,” was charged last week with four counts in connection with Jan. 6, including disorderly conduct and obstruction of an official proceeding.
According to documents filed in D.C. District Court last week, Duong and an unnamed associate introduced themselves to an undercover DC Police Department employee (UCE) in the vicinity of Freedom Plaza on Jan. 6. Duong allegedly asked the UCE if they were a “patriot,” and then said he was an “operator.”
The FBI said Duong then entered the U.S. Capitol building wearing what he later described as a “Japanese-style mask” and claimed to have been grazed by a rubber bullet while inside.
But, the FBI said, Duong’s activities didn’t end on Jan. 6. According to the undercover police employee, who stayed in contact with Duong after the riot, Duong spoke on multiple occasions in encrypted chats about his unnamed militia group surveilling the Capitol.
On Feb. 10, the UCE said they received a message from Duong about one of his guys “patrolling the green zone” outside the Capitol and asking if they were familiar with “SALUTE reports.” Salute is an acronym that stands for “Size, Activity, Location, Unit identification, Time and Equipment.” It’s a standard means of reporting enemy information used by the U.S. Marine Corps and other branches of the military.
On the same day, an unnamed associate of Duong’s reportedly messaged that they had taken footage of the Capitol’s west and east faces and was going to upload it to an encrypted cloud storage when they got home.
Three days later, the FBI said the associate proposed an “intel run” around the Capitol, saying it would be a “good opportunity to expose weaknesses.”
In March, Duong reportedly brought in a member of the far-right Three Percenters militia group. The undercover police employee said Duong said he had attended several Three Percenters meetings, but preferred to stay unaffiliated. At least six Three Percenters from a California chapter of the militia are now charged with conspiracy in connection with Jan. 6.
‘Interest in Violence’
In charges unsealed Tuesday, the Justice Department does not allege Duong committed any acts of violence on Jan. 6. But, it alleges, he has “repeatedly expressed his willingness to engage in conflict, including violence, against groups that shared different views than his own.”
The DOJ said that includes telling his unnamed militia group his goal was to “outline the current ‘state of play’ in what could be called the second American Civil War.”
According to the undercover police employee, Duong also collected materials for making dozens of Molotov cocktails at his home, including boxes full of glass bottles. The UCE said Duong spoke about making Molotovs and bombs frequently – specifically mentioning making “CS MRE” bombs out of CS gas and the heating packet contained in military field meals.”
The UCE said Duong also appeared to know his activities could be illegal, saying on different occasions that federal agents might be watching his search history and allegedly acknowledging that making “CS MRE” bombs would be “terrorism.”
The FBI said a potential, lethal conflict with federal agents was something Duong said he was preparing for. In March, Duong allegedly said he was writing a “manifesto” in case he died.
“I’m king of at a point right now that I’m writing letters to my son. 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,” Duong allegedly said during a March 31 conversation with the UCE. “I’ve got the manuscript, I’ve got my… It’s like what a lot of serial killers write. Their manifestos. I’m writing my manifesto to my son about, like, don’t be consumed by the propaganda, always fight, always go against the grain, most people are [expletive] stupid.”
At his Alexandria home on June 17, the UCE said Duong again brought up his concern about a showdown with federal agents, saying he was concerned new firearm regulations he believed the Biden Administration would impose would lead to his property becoming “WACO 2.0” – an apparent reference to the 1993 standoff between federal agencies and the Branch Davidian religious sect, which had been accused of illegally stockpiling weapons. The standoff ultimately resulted in the deaths of 76 members of the sect, including 25 children, and their leader, David Koresh.
A sealed criminal complaint against Duong was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, and Duong was arrested in D.C. on Friday. He made an initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge on the same day and was released from pretrial detention on the same day. A preliminary hearing in the case was set for Sept. 3 before federal Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui.
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