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Self-proclaimed Nazi who praised Pittsburgh synagogue shooter likely to plead guilty

In the latest court documents reviewed by WUSA9, prosecutors signaled Jeffrey R. Clark is likely to plead guilty to federal weapons charges.

WASHINGTON — He stared into a camera and unabashedly called himself a Nazi, as tourists visiting the White House filed past him – seemingly unaware of a tense moment during a protest in Lafayette Square.

More than a year later, FBI agents arrested D.C. resident Jeffrey R. Clark on drug and weapons charges, uncovering social media posts where Clark praised the accused Pittsburgh synagogue shooter on a website popular with the alt-right.

The Tree of Life shooting victims “deserved exactly what happened to them and so much worse,” Clark wrote on Gab, a social network that often attracts white nationalists.

Clark’s views became more outspoken after the massacre, leaving his parents no choice but to turn him in to the FBI.

His mother and father showed agents boxes of gun parts used to modify AR-15 assault rifles, as investigators later discovered body armor and a small arsenal in Clark’s Bloomingdale home.

Court papers filed in November 2018 described Clark, 30, as "friends" on Gab with Pittsburgh shooting suspect Robert Bowers. Clark remains in jail, as his defense team reviews substantial evidence collected by the FBI.

But in the latest federal court documents reviewed by WUSA9, prosecutors signaled Clark is on track to plead guilty – as plea negotiations are likely to result in the case never going to trial.

“The parties are continuing to explore a disposition in this matter, and can report that recent conversations between the parties have increased the likelihood of a disposition,” wrote U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.

"The parties noted that they were engaged in plea negotiations, and that because of the large amount of electronically stored information that the government seized in this case, discovery would be complex."

Clark initially pleaded not guilty on Nov. 16, 2018. He faces one count of unlawful possession of firearms by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance, and one count of possessing high-capacity magazines.

Clark appeared on antifascists’ radar in April 2017, when he told an African-American videographer near the White House that he considered himself not a fascist – but a Nazi.

The videographer then posted the video to YouTube, with other activists reporting Clark as an active participant in the August 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville.

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