Daniel Alan Baker, 33, was arrested Friday on a federal charge of interstate transmission of a threat to kidnap or injure. A criminal complaint filed in US District Court, Northern District of Florida, details how he spent months promoting violence but was specifically trying to organize violence against Trump supporters that would coincide with Biden’s inauguration. Baker is a former airborne soldier in the US Army (2006-2007), who went AWOL and was given an “other than honorable discharge.” The complaint says he spent much of the next ten years “homeless,” before traveling to Syria. He fought in the US-sponsored People’s Protection Army [YPG]. He was featured in a VICE News documentary about non-Kurdish western leftists volunteering in the YPG. Baker claims to have been a “YPG Sniper” on youtube.
Among other things, Bakers wanted a US Civil War to take place. He also was working to identify DC police officers that allowed Trump supporters to enter the Capitol building on January 6th. He claimed to have significant financial backing to fund people who could gather intel on these officers (page 17).
Click here to watch a video statement on Baker from the DOJ.
On January 14th, Baker posted 15 minutes of clips from Hollywood movies on Youtube with the title “why we will kill all nazi scum and their friends.”
Baker was active in the Seattle “autonomous zone,” AKA “The CHAZ,” AKA the “CHOP.” This was the twenty-four-hour-a-day Black Lives Matter protest that occupied multiple Seattle city blocks for nearly four weeks. During this time, fighting broke out constantly between rival factions, some of whom carried guns openly. Seven people were shot. Two of them died, both of whom were young black males. To this day, the “protesters” refuse to cooperate with the police, and the shootings are going unsolved.
Two of the victims, a 14-year-old black male who was seriously injured, and a 16-year-old black male who died, were shot by CHAZ/CHOP “security forces.” There are old tweets accusing Baker of being part of the “security forces” that shot the two black teenagers. Baker has a Youtube video saying he “treated their wounds” and described how he refused to cooperate with police and FBI afterward. He also appears to have defended the shooting of the two teens on Twitter.
Baker appears to have made statements on a now-deleted Twitter account, using the alias Aliser Qerecox (@aQerecox/@al-Alishare). Among other things, he claimed to have defended the CHAZ/CHOP while “being shot at by Trump supporters yelling hail hitler.” Something that obviously never happened. He also claimed the two black teenagers had guns and were shooting at the CHAZ/CHOP “security forces.” Something that was never proven, and considered very unlikely by the authorities. The two teens had stolen a car and it is believed they went to the CHAZ/CHOP hoping to avoid arrest.
Between 2017 and 2019, Baker volunteered in the YPG. This is the military wing of the Kurdish political party called PYD, which is the Syrian branch of the Turkish-based PKK. The PKK is officially designated as a “terrorist organization” by the US government, while their Syrian branch is sponsored by the US government (A major source of tension between the USA & Turkey right now). The PYD currently rules a small territory in northeastern Syria as a single-party Marxist state. Rival parties have been banned, and thousands of Kurdish political dissidents are in exile in Iraq. The group is also accused of persecuting the ethnic Assyrians in the region. PYD is engaged in a campaign of changing Assyrian and Arab place names to Kurdish place names.
Baker claims to have killed countless members of ISIS in battle and to have performed heroic deeds. However, it is known that Western Leftists serving in the YPG routinely exaggerated a lot of their actions. A group of Antifa-linked Western volunteer fighters known as the International Revolutionary People’s Guerilla Forces [IRPGF] was even expelled from combat areas for cowardice in the face of ISIS. An official YPG Twitter account announced their expulsion.
Given the fantastical nature of Baker’s rhetoric on Twitter, it would be hard to take his Syrian claims seriously. Baker also seems to wildly exaggerate his time in the US Army, based on the fact that he was quickly discharged after going AWOL.
Several non-Kurdish Western leftists died fighting with the YPG. At least six died fighting the Turkish army and/or Turkish backed forced in Afrin.
Baker was once interviewed by VICE News while he was in Syria. In Europe, Antifa has become involved in street fighting between Kurdish and Turkish immigrants. This has even spilled into the United States when Antifa was part of a group that battled with the security forces of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Washinton DC. Nine people were injured, including a high-profile female Antifa leader. Last June, Erdoğan used left-wing rioting in the USA as an opportunity to highlight the links between the YPG and western Antifa.
Video Below: Baker claims to have been a “YPG Sniper” and offers this ten-second clip as proof.
