The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have launched an investigation into letters sent by an anti-government group to over 30 governors demanding they resign within three days or face peaceful removal from office.

The letters, sent by a group calling themselves the “Guardians of the Free Republics,” do not threaten violence but warned recipients they would be removed from office if they did not resign by the deadline, law enforcement and state officials said.

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Virginia’s Republican Governor Robert McDonnell and Arkansas’s Democratic Governor Mike Beebe were among those who received the letters, as was Texas’s Republican Governor Rick Perry.

The letters arrived amid recent spates of vandalism and harassment — including death threats — against other lawmakers in the wake of the health reform bill’s passage. Mere days earlier, eight members of what the government described as a “Christian militia” were arrested and accused of planning to attack police officers.

Investigators worried the Guardians’ rhetoric could unleash violent behavior, according to US media.

“While there does not appear to be credible or immediate threats of violence attached to the letters, we are working with state and local authorities and continue to assess the matter,” the FBI and DHS said in a joint statement.

Media almost universally treated the statements as threats against the governors, echoing the government’s tenor of concern.

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Guardians of the Free Republics claims on its website that it seeks to restore US institutions by peacefully dismantling and rebuilding parts of government.

“The Restore America Plan is a bold achievable strategy for behind-the-scenes peaceful reconstruction of the de jure institutions of government without controversy, violence or civil war,” the website says.

On their site, the group claims that a “Plan” is underway to peacefully reconstruct the government.

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“After consultation with high ranking members of the United States armed forces, the Plan is in the process of assembling the Guardians of the Free Republics and reinhabiting the De jure Grand Juries,” they write.

“De jure” is a legal term, meaning something is lawful or legitimate. The reference to the grand jury appears to be similarly rooted, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment for anyone accused of an “otherwise infamous” crime in federal court.

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In a YouTube clip titled “Restore America Counter-Punch,” a man purporting to be the “state coordinator for Texas” claims the group’s plan “has the backing of International foreign courts” and suggests that soon, “everything is gonna change” once the military and Supreme Court accept their argument.

First, he claims, all foreclosures will stop, then new forms of identification will be issued guaranteeing citizens “diplomatic immunity” to travel anywhere.

The video was published to YouTube by user jonah70757, who on his homepage addresses media coverage of the group’s demands and suggests that the “enemies” are in the White House. His “favorite” videos on the site are almost all of a political nature, with several referencing Joe Stack, the Austin-based accordion player who crashed his airplane into an IRS office building, killing one person.

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This video was published March 23, 2010.



The group’s demands, in full, are:

Restore and reinhabit the de jure institutions of lawful government. Terminate illicit corporations posing as legitimate governments, in particular the territorial jurisdiction United States Federal Corporation (corp. ref. 28 U.S.C. 3002) posing as the de jure United States of America. Terminate all presumed powers of attorney to such corporations. End the foreclosure nightmare (for borrowing against oneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s own credit). End tax prosecutions for resisting the transfer of private wealth to foreign banking cartels such as I.R.S. (former Puerto Rico Bureau of Taxation). End street assaults against the sovereign People for failing to exhibit a State-issued confession of subject-class citizenship. End all prosecutions which lack an injured party. End admiralty prosecutions for kidnapping and other heinous crimes against mankind as Ã¢â‚¬Å“commercial crimesÃ¢â‚¬Â against the corporate State under a contrived corporate color-of-law venue (corp. ref. 27 C.F.R. 72.11). Terminate the intrusion of corporations posing as the state into every aspect of the PeopleÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s lives. End the use of covert contracts such as Form 1040, car registrations, birth certificate applications, and bank signature cards which confess the signer to be a legal fiction subject of the United States Federal Corporation (Ã¢â‚¬Å“U.S. personÃ¢â‚¬Â) that has waved his/her rights in favor of state-issued privileges. End the use of deeds which classify the People as Ã¢â‚¬Å“tenantsÃ¢â‚¬Â on their own land, thereby transferring control to incorporated County registrars and tax assessors. End the perversion of marriage into a commercial system of state-issued privileges through the so-called Ã¢â‚¬Å“marriage licenseÃ¢â‚¬Â whereby incorporated Ã¢â‚¬Å“courtsÃ¢â‚¬Â presume the Ã¢â‚¬Å“rightÃ¢â‚¬Â to trespass on families and kidnap children. End the hijacking of automobile ownership through DMV registrations which covertly exchange the divine rights of travel and ownership for the state-issued Ã¢â‚¬Å“privilegesÃ¢â‚¬Â of Ã¢â‚¬Å“drivingÃ¢â‚¬Â and Ã¢â‚¬Å“title.Ã¢â‚¬Â In place of all of the above, substitute sovereign identification, diplomatic immunity and sovereign passports to facilitate safe passage throughout the world free from corporate State molestation and terror. Restore the PeopleÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s money and wealth from the banking institutions, war profiteers, and international loan sharks. Instantly vest all mortgages, auto loans and personal business loans Ã¢â‚¬Å“issuedÃ¢â‚¬Â by members of the Fed. The state shall hold no paper on, or debts against, the sovereign People, directly or through its agencies and licensed banking institutions. Instantly end all non-consensual and unlawful taxation including all taxes on the sacred rights of labor and privacy. Empower and inspire the sovereign People to righteousness through such renewed abundance. Issue orders to the military and police powers to enforce the PeoplesÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ divine rights of birth. Reabsorb all de facto actors into lawful de jure capacity. End the perverse act of requiring the People to pray to Ã¢â‚¬Å“courtsÃ¢â‚¬Â as is now required under corporate rules and traditions. Restore the de jure judicial institutions including the district court of the United States and the one supreme Court. Quietly mirror the strategies of 1933 thereby using their (our) institutions, military and public officials to undo eighty years of subterfuge without provoking alarm, controversy or armed conflict. Return the military and law enforcement institutions to proper and lawful de jure sovereign authority from the clutches of corporate actors. Forgive all corporate actors who repent for their State-sponsored crimes against mankind. Remove the recidivists from office. Do all of the above, and more, peacefully, discreetly, quietly and honorably, behind the scenes, without public proclamations or provocative actions against a general public that is mostly unaware of the hijacking of their free de jure American republics, and their hapless media.

“[Although] the Guardians lay out an interesting legal theory Ã¢â‚¬â€œ arcane federal law and how it’s interpreted is core to the sovereign citizen movement Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the idea that they could quietly, and, as they suggest, without ridicule, work behind the scenes to slide America back nearly a century seems, in retrospect, folly,” Patrik Jonsson chided, writing for the Christian Science Monitor.

According to The Washington Post, the FBI expects all 50 governors to eventually receive the group’s letters.

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Other recipients so far cited by US media include Iowa’s Democratic Governor Chet Culver, Michigan’s Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm, Oklahoma’s Democratic Governor Brad Henry, Louisiana’s Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, Minnesota’s Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and South Dakota’s Republican Governor Mike Rounds.

This video is from Austin-based NBC affiliate KXAN.

With AFP.