John D. Guandolo (born 1965 or 1966)[1] is an American former Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent and counterterrorism activist who has provided training seminars for law enforcement and local elected officials across the United States.
[7] According to press reports, Guandolo was a counterterrorism expert in the FBI following the September 11 attacks,[9][10] after having been part of the recovery and investigation of the airliner crash into the Pentagon.
[10] The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) routinely monitors Guandolo, who it describes as "a disgraced ex-FBI agent" who makes a living from "anti-Muslim witch-hunts,"[9] and has designated UTT as a "hate group".
"[9] The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on local Republican Party chapters to cancel events with Guandolo, who it similarly describes as "a disgraced ex-FBI agent and anti-Muslim extremist who has peddled conspiracy theories about Islam and Muslims.
[3] The same year the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) attempted to cancel an event in Maricopa County, Arizona.
[26] A California-based nonprofit legal group, Muslim Advocates, in 2018 sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to inspect public records related to the sheriff office's relationship with Guandolo, stating that Guandolo and his associates "have a long, well-documented history of spreading anti-Muslim sentiment through public comments and private law enforcement trainings in the United States.
"[10] According to The Intercept, he has said that all American Muslim groups share the same ideology as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), that the majority of mosques in the US should be shut down, and called for the arrest of the leaders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
[9][33] In 2018, Guandolo's Twitter account was suspended after he posted a tweet that tied the Democratic Party to the Ku Klux Klan and the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.
[35] Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack, having been present at the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" rally with a group to pray,[7] he praised insurrectionists for showing "restraint" by not publicly executing lawmakers.