DOJ indicts 2 alleged leaders of white supremacist 'Terrorgram' chat group

The Justice Department on Monday charged two California individuals who were alleged leaders of a white supremacist group that wanted to ignite a race war in the United States and allegedly plotted to kill "high value" targets and incite its followers to carry out terror attacks around the globe.

Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison allegedly became leaders of a group that deemed itself "Terrorgram" and was formed on the encrypted social media site.

The two were charged with a host of federal crimes including solicitation of the killing of a federal official, doxing federal officials and making interstate threats.

"The defendant's goal, the indictment charges, was to ignite a race war, accelerate the collapse of what they viewed as an irreparably corrupt government and bring about a white ethno state. As the indictment lays out, defendants use the internet platform Telegram to post messages promoting their white supremacist accelerationism," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, chief of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said during a press conference Monday.

The indictment alleges that the group "solicited terrorist attacks" including on alleged "enemies," on government infrastructure, and on "high value" targets such as politicians and government figures.

"The List," according to the indictment, includes U.S. senators, federal judges, U.S. attorneys and local officials.

When disseminating the so-called list, Allision allegedly included comments like "take action now" and "do your part."

The arrests of the two alleged leaders illustrate the "single most lethal" threat that white supremacist-inspired extremism poses not just for the U.S., but around the world, two top DOJ officials said in an exclusive interview with ABC News on Monday.

"The threat of domestic terrorism is on the rise inside the United States, and acts of violence carried out by white supremacists is the single most lethal type of domestic violent extremism that we see in the country right now," Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas.

Olsen, the head of DOJ's National Security Division, and Assistant Attorney General Clarke both said in a rare joint interview that Monday's arrests showed how federal law enforcement is adapting to an evolving threat and the increasing efforts by extremists like the Terrorgram group to cultivate terror plots in the shadows of the internet.

"With the case that we have brought here, we're on the highest end of the Richter scale," Clarke said. "These are people who are exploiting these social media platforms to, you know, to the greatest extent possible, who are seeking to give so-called 'sainthood' to other people who will carry out these attacks. They're giving out bomb-making instructions. They're putting together hit lists. We hope that this action sends a very strong message that you can't hide behind a computer screen."

In at least three separate instances detailed by prosecutors in the indictment, users of the group have allegedly moved forward in carrying out violent attacks inspired by the group chat.

One user was a 19-year-old from Slovakia who killed two people at an LGBT bar in Bratislava before killing himself, according to the DOJ. The indictment alleges that the attacker sent a manifesto directly to Humber, which Humber later purportedly narrated and turned into an audiobook.

Both Humber and Allison later allegedly took credit for the attack and celebrated the attacker as the group's "first Saint," according to the indictment.

A separate case highlighted in the indictment involved the arrest in July of 18-year-old Andrew Taskhistov of New Jersey who was allegedly incited to plot an attack on an energy facility through his membership in the group. A third case highlighted in the indictment involved an 18-year-old from Turkey who allegedly livestreamed himself stabbing five people outside a mosque and later shared multiple publications from the group.

Part of the group's alleged strategy was to target critical infrastructure, according to the DOJ.

Humber and Allison also allegedly created a documentary that celebrated racist incidents around the country from 1968 on, according to the indictment.

The pair also allegedly stressed the need to be covert about their operations and, according to the indictment.

Attorney information for Humber or Allison wasn't immediately available.