(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In the 2000s, Portland man John Paul Cupp was the leader of a pro-North Korean group with official ties to the Pyongyang government.
Some 20 years later, Cupp, who’s diagnosed with bipolar disorder, has turned up in Anti-ICE protests with other Antifa protestors in Portland. And on Tuesday, the FBI announced that Cupp, now 45, has been arrested for making heinous threats against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers—allegedly threatening to kill them and sexually assault their wives.
According to charging papers, Cupp was at an ICE facility on Oct. 14 when he made his threats.
“You know who I am. I’m going to have your head on a stick and mail it to your wife. And then I’m going to fuck her brains out in front of it,” Cupp yelled, according to charging documents.
Cupp, who’s also known as Walid Al Amriki, made similar threats online.
Cupp’s arraignment is set for Dec. 23.
The man arrested here, John Paul Cupp, once led a group affiliated w/ the North Korean government.
FBI informant Joshua Caleb Sutter and his girlfriend allegedly poisoned Cupp in an attempt to co-opt the group.
Some 15 years later, Cupp is now hanging w/ ICE protestors. Weird https://t.co/26W9fDcCsl pic.twitter.com/ojdRsPyrj0— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 25, 2025
The charging papers say the FBI has been monitoring him since at least May 2024, when four people reported him for violent social media posts. But it’s likely been a lot longer than that.
According to a 2015 article from NKNews.org, Cupp received a message from the North Korean government in 2003. At the time, he was a self-described communist and homeless 22-year-old living in Portland.
“By the time Cupp vowed his loyalty to Pyongyang and was made Chairman of the newly created Songun Politics Study Group USA, his evolving political ideology embraced white supremacy, pro Islamic Jihadists, virulent anti-Semitism, and launching domestic terrorism to achieve the armed overthrow of the U.S. government,” the NKNews article stated.
Cupp’s pro-North Korean phase saw him clash with a variety of colorful characters, including a notorious FBI informant named Joshua Caleb Sutter.
According to the NKNews article and court filings by a prison inmate named Bill White, Sutter and his girlfriend tried poisoning Cupp in a bid to take over his group. It’s not clear whether that’s true, but Sutter went on to infiltrate neo-Nazi, Satanist and other groups—being paid more than $100,000 by the FBI in the process.
Sutter couldn’t be reached for comment.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
