White supremacist leader pleads guilty to threatening New York journalist

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

Washington (CNN) — The leader of White supremacist group pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiring to threaten a Brooklyn-based journalist, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York said in a statement.

As part of his plea agreement, Nicholas Welker, 32, admitted to threatening a reporter who was reporting on his extremist organization, the Feuerkrieg Division. He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in January.

The journalist and news organization were not named in court filings.

The Feuerkrieg Division, prosecutors say, is a White supremacist organization that has a goal of “challenging laws, social order, and the government via terrorism and other violent acts” and “encourages attacks on racial minorities, the Jewish community, the LGBTQ+ community, the US government, journalists, and critical infrastructure.”

According to court documents, Welker, who also goes by the online monikers “King ov Wrath” and “ilovehate5150,” posted a picture of the journalist with a gun aimed at their head on a public online forum in an effort to pressure the journalist to abandon reporting on the Feuerkrieg Division.

The journalist’s eyes were covered in the picture with the words “Race Traitor,” court documents say, and Welker captioned the photo “JOURNALIST F*** OFF! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.”

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