A white supremacist demanded that I comply with his demands. He's now in custody

He warned me there would be consequences if I failed to comply with his demands to air a white-supremacist video.

Then, nothing happened.

Today, hate-group researchers said they have identified the man behind the anonymous social media app that targeted me and others in Middle Tennessee who, he perceived, were standing in Gabrielle Hanson's path last fall to becoming mayor of Franklin.

And now that man faces his own consequences.

Kai Liam Nix, 20, an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Liberty in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is now in federal custody.

Southern Poverty Law Center

Nix is charged with unlawful firearms trafficking for selling two stolen guns and accused of lying about his hate-group ties on his U.S. Army background check.

"This guy, Kai Liam Nix, was a recruiter for Patriot Front in and around North Carolina," said Jeff Tischauser, a senior researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center, referring to a white-supremacist organization known for its khaki pants and hate-filled flyers that it posts in public places in the dark of night.

Tischauser recently identified Nix after months of investigation after getting leaked documents from independent researchers.

"Kai Liam Nix, we found operating a channel called Appalachian Archives, which was later rebranded to American Archives, and it was Telegram channel that was rife with neo-Nazi content," Tischauser said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which investigates hate groups, became especially interested in those channels after they began to play a role in Hanson's unsuccessful bid for mayor in the county seat for affluent Williamson County, Tennessee.

Southern Poverty Law Center

"Essentially, Kai was working behind the scenes doxxing people, providing sensitive material about journalists, about activists that were engaged in trying to stop Hanson’s campaign," Tischauser said.

Among its posts, Appalachian Archives shared a photo of the home and address of a Franklin attorney who had criticized the hate groups, as well as info about the operator of the progressive Tennessee Holler news site and photos from a neo-Nazi protest outside the home of a journalist from a national website who had covered the Hanson campaign.

There, the protestors held up a sign, declaring "freedom of press" is not "freedom of consequence."

Then, there were the account's attacks against me.

"Phil, this guy is the one targeting you, making the threats," Tischauser said.

In particular, Appalachian Archives demanded that I post a video that a local neo-Nazi leader had recorded with a member of Hanson's campaign.

"If Phil Williams thinks he can run a Slander Campaign without showing the uncensored truth of what happened, he is mistaken," Appalachian Archives said in one post.

It continued, "If Phil Williams does not comply with the Following, more drops will come" — suggesting that it would continue to share the personal information of people in the community.

"This is our only Warning," it concluded, adding the tagline: "Always Watching, Always Listening, Always Near."

Telegram screengrab

Tischauser said that, in 10 years of monitoring hate groups, he had never seen demands such as those by Appalachian Archives.

"It takes a lot to shock me — in particular in this world of checking neo-Nazis — but that’s something that was truly shocking to see," he added.

In addition, the researcher said, Appalachian Archives shared "how-to guides" that described "how you wage war against the United States while evading capture."

"The goal is to cause havoc and they wish for this havoc to lead to a race war. At its core, their work is trying to build either a nationalist-socialist state or a white-ethno state of some sort."

Nix was arrested last week on federal charges after Tischauser shared the results of his investigation with the U.S. Army.

An Army spokesperson says Nix has now been booted from the service.

"It’s a problem when we have avowed white supremacists with access to the training provided by the U.S. Army, getting weapons put into his hands and then moonlighting as a recruiter for a white-supremacist organization," Tischauser noted.

Still, the researcher has questions.

"What was he doing with these weapons? Who was he giving them to? We are safer now that Kai is facing this accountability, and I’m excited to see how this plays out in court."

From Southern Poverty Law Center: ‘We Will Fight!’ The Soldier Waging War Against America from Fort Liberty

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