Thomas "Tas" Alexander Starks, 31, of Lisbon, N.D., was recorded on CCTV attempting to break inside Sen. John Hoeven's office in Fargo on Dec. 21, 2020, using an ax. In April, he pleaded guilty to a charge of destruction of government property. Federal sentencing guidelines recommended 10–16 months in jail though he was only sentenced to probation and fined $2,784 for restitution.
According to court documents, Starks' colleague stated he was "politically open and motivated," Left-leaning and "very active in protests."
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Recently, Starks had taken to Facebook to boast about receiving his ax back from the FBI.
"Look what the FBI were kind enough to give back to me!" Starks posted on Oct. 26.
Starks has called for violence and has spread Antifa propaganda while posting under the Facebook moniker, "Paul Dunyan," referring to the ax-carrying folklore lumberjack Paul Bunyan.
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Starks' Facebook profile avatar depicts the Antifa red and black flag logo along with the text, "Antifascist." On Oct. 22, Starks posted the symbol of the Antifascist Action along with the text "F— Around and Find Out," and three ax emojis.
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Back in July, as Starks was awaiting sentencing, he announced: "I am ANTIFA."
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"I will always attack fascists, racial superiority complexes built around nationalism that promotes genocide to fuel a war machine is the worst humanity has to offer." Starks' words repeat the manifesto written by Portland Antifa shooter Michael Reinoehl, who called himself "100% ANTIFA" in a social media post before murdering Aaron Danielson.
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That isn't Starks' only reference to political violence. In April, he posted about utilizing a rifle to "hunt fascists" and using soup cans as projectiles to assault police. Throughout the Black Lives Matter-Antifa protests in Portland last year, Antifa militants carried frozen water bottles and canned food in their bags as projectiles against law enforcement.
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In many photos of himself posted on social media, Starks can be seen wearing a Socialist Rifle Association t-shirt. The militant leftist group pushes comrades on the Left to take up arms. The group had communicated on Twitter in 2019 with Ohio Antifa member Connor Betts before he died conducting a deadly mass shooting in Dayton.
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In another post from this past summer, Starks pushed arson: "If they try to kick you out of your home don't leave, or find a place to go and burn it down."
Starks' defense attorney Tatum O'Brien had claimed his client suffered stress from the coronavirus pandemic and was waiting for a COVID-19 relief check at the time of the ax attack.
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