Former Congressional Candidate Jeremy Liggett Arrested by Feds

Federal authorities have arrested and charged five members of a militia alleged to be run by a former candidate for Congress in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Former Florida Congressional candidate Jeremy Liggett was among the group.

A criminal complaint names only one of the five people, Brian Preller, who, according to court records, was arrested in Vermont in connection with the case. Four of the people face a felony count of civil disorder apiece, while one faces two misdemeanor counts.

The other men are John Edward Crowley, Jonathan Alan Rockholt, Tyler Quintin Bensch and Benjamin Cole, a federal official told NBC News. Crowley, Rockholt and Bensch were set to appear in federal court in the Middle District of Florida on Wednesday, while Cole was scheduled to appear in the Western District of Kentucky.

The people all refer to themselves as members of the “B Squad" and were associated with the Three Percent movement, authorities said in the criminal complaint. They wore “Guardians of Freedom” logos on Jan. 6, 2021.

The name "B Squad" and references to "plan B," the FBI affidavit suggests, referred to "an alternate plan to be in place if they do not get the desired electoral outcome (i.e., the former president remaining in power)."

The leader of the group, referred to as “B Leader” in court filings, is not charged.

Although the Justice Department did not name "B Leader," it included several screenshots from a video of him in the complaint. NBC News was able to identify “B Leader” as Jeremy Liggett, a Florida man who ran in a Republican primary for the U.S. House this year, based on social media posts, including a copy of the video the Justice Department used, which Liggett posted on social media.