As founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, Brandon Russell prided himself on being a man of action, federal prosecutors allege.
Russell, they assert, subscribes to an ideology called accelerationism, which aims to speed up the collapse of society through chaos and violence. And prosecutors claim he was obsessed with attacking electrical substations.
He provided insight, conducted research and helped ensure that people would not get caught, prosecutors contend.
Russell, 29, of Orlando, Florida, is now standing trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. Prosecutors allege that he plotted with his girlfriend at the time, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, to attack substations in Maryland and cause a “cascading failure” of the power grid that in her words would “lay this city to waste.”
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One time, they allege, Russell wrote, “Never forget. This is a war for our very existence.”
“Mr. Russell was at war,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Aubin said on Tuesday in his opening statement. “He was at war for his race: the white race.”
U.S. Senior District Judge James K. Bredar is presiding over the trial, which could last two weeks.
Aubin told the jury that they would hear from witnesses including FBI special agents, confidential sources and experts in accelerationism, ballistics and the value of substations.
Law enforcement arrested Russell and Clendaniel on Feb. 3, 2023.
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“For all their work,” Aubin said, “they were unsuccessful.”
Clendaniel, 36, of Catonsville, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to damage an energy facility and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. She was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Ian Goldstein, Russell’s attorney, said his client holds beliefs that are repulsive to most people and will make them angry.
But Goldstein asked the jury to set that information aside and evaluate the evidence.
Goldstein said his client was not involved in the conspiracy.
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Russell, he said, neither traveled to Maryland nor discussed coming to the state. The government did not like him, Goldstein said.
“He’s the one they wanted,” Goldstein said in his opening statement. “He’s the one they were targeting.”
He said his client shared information that was publicly available on the internet, which is not a crime. Instead, Goldstein said, that’s constitutionally protected speech.
A confidential source, he said, tried to get his client to make incriminating statements.
“This was a setup from the very beginning,” Goldstein said.
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The government started calling witnesses in the case, including Arie Perliger, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell who’s an expert in far-right extremism and accelerationism.
Perliger testified that Atomwaffen Division existed for several years and espoused white supremacist, neo-Nazi and accelerationist views.
The National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha this month released a report that found the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted 20 members of the group nationwide since 2017 on numerous charges.
Law enforcement, the report states, has largely dismantled the organization through a series of targeted arrests.
The ecosystem of white supremacy in the United States is comprehensive, Perliger said. But Atomwaffen Division tried to distinguish itself by encouraging action, he said.
Violence, he said, was inherent in its ideology.
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