A January 6 Rioter Is Leading an Armed National Militia From Prison

Edward "Jake" Lang has been in prison for over 1,200 days since the January 6, 2021 , attack on the US Capitol .

He is now working with a network of election deniers and conspiracists to promote the North American Patriot and Liberty Militia , or Napalm .

The group officially launched last week with 50 state-specific militia groups on Telegram .

Lang claims that the Telegram groups already have 20,000 members, including pastors, farmers, former military personnel.

Lang 's original attempt at starting a militia on Telegram ended with just a few hundred followers and his arrest.

Lang says he has spent the past year creating Napalm from his cell with the help of far-right figures from around the country.

Lang claims that the group has signed up over 20,000 members, some experts don’t believe him.

Experts say Napalm . Telegram channels membership numbers are "significantly artificially inflated" Experts say attention needs to be paid to groups like Napalm .

Even if one of these groups materializes into something with a dozen people in it, that could still cause a real problem, says Holt.