Separatist talks after Holocaust shooting
By ED BILLER

Eagle Staff Writer

Sarver man shares views

SARVER In the wake of James Von Brunn's alleged killing of a black guard Wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., white separatist John de Nugent has seen his name and his cause publicized nationwide.

"I absolutely condemn what James Von Braun did. Suddenly this person with whom I had a loose acquaintance was thrust into the national spotlight, and I felt I had to clarify a few things," the Sarver resident said Friday.

De Nugent has appeared on ABC News, "Good Morning America," Fox News and BBC programming in the past two days after he called The Washington Post the day of the shooting.

"I wanted to make it crystal clear that there is no white supremacist movement. We don't want to bring back the Confederacy," de Nugent said.

"We just want a place where we are safe, pockets of white heritage. We do not want to force liberals to live our lifestyle. We respect other races and want them to respect us."

De Nugent said his association with the 88-year-old Von Brunn, who has been charged by federal authorities with the murder of guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, of Temple Hills, Md., was limited.

"We never met. We only spoke on the phone a few times, but I was on his mass e-mail list," de Nugent said.

"I became concerned about the violent tone of his last few e-mails, so I called him. He wasn't wearing his heart on his sleeve. He said he was fine."

But Von Brunn, who was divorced for more than 10 years and subletting a room from his son in Annapolis, Md., was bitter over his recent cut in Social Security benefits. He had reached his breaking point.

Von Brunn posted his anti-Semitic views, one of which was that Jews are bending the federal government against whites, on a personal Web site, holywesternempire.org. But he gave away his computer shortly before the museum attack.

"You don't see lifelong fishermen giving away their tackle or hunters selling their rifles. Something was wrong," de Nugent said.

De Nugent plans to release a book titled "Solutrea" by the end of the month.

"It is about the rebirth of a free white nation within the United States' borders, in local control, the legal establishment of white safety zones, for those who want that," de Nugent said.

"Our vision is that of Thomas Jefferson: a tiny government that protects our borders and otherwise butts out of our lives. It is the exact opposite of Hitlerism."

De Nugent said "Solutrea" justifies why safe zones should be established to allow white individuals to celebrate their culture freely without minority influence and proposes a plan of how to accomplish it.

The book responds to what de Nugent called "the tremendous amount of white fear" created by the election of President Barack Obama, fear that free speech and the right to bear arms will be stifled, as well as the "extreme disappointment" of conservatives with the presidency of George W. Bush.

"You never hear the phrase, 'the white community.' Why doesn't anybody ever talk about the needs or rights of whites or the concerns of the white community?" de Nugent said.

"All different ethnic groups are allowed to have their celebrations and their pride. We are no different."

De Nugent said he has about 75 people who support or who are sympathetic to his cause in Western and central Pennsylvania as well as a large online following.

De Nugent relocated to Sarver from Rhode Island in 2008 at the recommendation of his father, James Nugent, who had lived in Greensburg.

De Nugent, twice-married and a father of two, said family values and a moral upbringing are of principal importance to him.

The 1981 Georgetown University graduate and former U.S. Marine ran unsuccessfully for Tennessee's 6th Congressional District in 1990 and had a write-in bid for president in 2008, both times as a Republican.

At Georgetown, de Nugent majored in German and minored in French, and is fluent in both, as well as Spanish.

After college, he provided recruitment literature for the National Alliance and worked with the National Socialist White People's Party.

From 1987 to 1992, de Nugent was an independent contractor who promoted the use of revocable trusts by those who wanted to leave a bequest to the Liberty Lobby, a Washington, D.C., populist organization.

In the past 17 years, he has written articles on pro-white or anti-Zionist topics for various publications.

"I am controversial. I understand that. But I reject Nazism, and I am not a white supremacist," de Nugent said.