(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On the day before the 2024 presidential election, the Justice Department announced that it foiled a right-wing terrorist plot.
Former Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the time that the defendant, Skyler Philippi, was planning to destroy a Tennessee energy facility. “But the FBI had already compromised his plot,” Garland said, referring to at least five undercover FBI informants and agents who were communicating with Philippi.
But according to Philippi’s lawyers, the undercover FBI agents didn’t just compromise his plot; they encouraged it. Philippi pled guilty last year, but his lawyers are seeking leniency, in large part due to the actions of the undercover feds.
“When Skyler was approached by undercover agents in July 2024, he had recently moved to Tennessee and was homeless … The agents befriended him, ate and drank alcohol with him, and made him feel special and part of the group,” the lawyers said in a sentencing memorandum last week.
“In many, many hours of numerous recorded conversations, the agents and Skyler discussed conducting operations and focused on a plan to attack the power grid with drones. In these recorded conversations, the agents told Skyler he was smart, encouraged him to carry out the plan, and made him feel like part of a group.”
The defendant in this case, Skyler Philippi, is to be sentenced next month. His lawyers are asking for leniency–pointing to how the undercover FBI agents essentially groomed their client, who was homeless living in a tent when he met them. https://t.co/PPnV7Li5zB pic.twitter.com/KyC8v3T9iF
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) September 7, 2026
Philippi’s lawyers also revealed that he’s autistic and was hospitalized in 2015 for suicidal thoughts. Philippi’s autism is probably why he didn’t realize the agents didn’t have his best interests in mind, the lawyers said.
“Skyler’s extremely dysfunctional childhood and teenage years and his undiagnosed and untreated autism help to explain why he was vulnerable to radical ideas and to the encouragement of the undercover agents, who he thought were his friends, to attempt the ridiculous plan,” the lawyers said.
“Then, on the night of the planned operation to blow up a substation, the agents and Skyler participated in a bizarre Odinist religious ceremony to steel themselves for the fake attack. They prayed to the Norse god, Odin. The agents even told Skyler that they loved him.”
Philippi’s lawyers seek a 47-month prison sentence for their client—a drastic reduction from the 235-293 months that he’d get if terrorist enhancements are applied to his case. The DOJ has yet to file a sentencing memo. Sentencing is scheduled for October 7.
Case History
According to the DOJ’s complaint, Philippi had been talking to an FBI informant online earlier in 2024 about committing a mass shooting at a YMCA in Columbia, Tennessee. Instead of arresting him for that, the FBI informant introduced Philippi to another informant, who was located physically closer to him.
That FBI informant, in turn, introduced Phillippi to an undercover agent in August 2024. During an in-person meeting, the defendant allegedly told the agent about his “manifesto,” which outlined desires to attack “high tax cities or industrial areas to let the kikes lose money.” During that conversation, he also allegedly told the agent about his previous affiliation with the Atomwaffen Division—a neo-Nazi terrorist group infiltrated by the FBI years ago.
On Sept. 28, 2024, the FBI introduced Philippi to yet another undercover agent. After the meeting, the undercover agents drove him to a substation to plot the attack, according to the complaint.
A few weeks later, Philippi told the undercover agents he wanted to participate in a “Nordic ritual”—something that’s often popular with neo-Nazi groups such as the Atomwaffen. Philippi said he never participated in such a ritual before, but “the UCEs told PHILIPPI they had previously participated in a Nordic ritual and offered to help set it up.”
As Philippi’s supposed plot progressed, he told the agents he was having trouble building the drone to use as a bomber. According to the criminal complaint, the FBI agents then gave him a drone to use.
Philippi is pictured test-flying the drone in the FBI’s criminal complaint. Afterwards, “PHILIPPI and the UCEs returned to the hotel and began preparing for the attack,” the complaint states.
Later that night, he and the undercover agents left their hotel to carry out the attack—stopping at a bar first, according to Philippi.
“Law-enforcement agents arrested PHILIPPI while he was preparing the drone and the explosives from the back of the vehicle,” the criminal complaint states.
Philippi was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted destruction of an energy facility. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
