A Tennessee company placed ads around the United States to recruit retired military special operators for a “large contingent” to protect Minnesota polling places from potential attacks from antifa, the Washington Post reports.
Atlas Aegis, a year old private security firm run by people who claim military Special Operations experience, started recruited on defense industry job sites for “security positions in Minnesota during the November Election and beyond to protect election polls, local businesses and residences from looting and destruction.”
State officials are looking into the ads and the company’s plan because of potential violations of state and federal voter intimidation and electioneering laws which prohibit unauthorized people from being within 100 feet of a polling place.
Anthony Caudle, the president and c0-founder of Atlas Aegis, said that the company is a subcontractor to another company that has been hired by a group of Minnesota “consortium of business owners and concerned citizens.”
Caudle also dismissed the idea that having armed people around polling places would be intimidating.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “These people are going to be never even seen unless there’s an issue. So it’s not like they’re going to be standing around and only allowing certain people in.”
“They’re there for protection, that’s it,” he added. “They’re there to make sure that the Antifas don’t try to destroy the election sites.”