Pot-smoking Trump backer-turned-ISIS adherent tells Brooklyn court, ‘Jihad will erupt on the American homeland’

A former pot-smoking Trump backer who became a full-fledged ISIS crusader was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday after expressing hope that “jihad will erupt on the American homeland.”

Bernard Augustine, 25, also tore into the federal prosecutors on his case as “filthy dogs and swine.”

Augustine has been in custody ever since his arrest in Tunisia in 2016, where he’d flown from San Francisco on his way to Libya to join the Islamic State.

His belief in violent jihad and the systematic destruction of “nonbelievers and apostates” began when he had his heart broken as a teenager and hardened behind bars, Augustine declared proudly in Brooklyn Federal Court.

“Today, I am a committed supporter of the mujahedeen, Islamic jihad and the Islamic State,” said Augustine, bearded and bespectacled.

He read from prepared notes as both his lawyers and Judge Sterling Johnson held their heads in their hands.

Augustine — who said that he had a normal American upbringing that included smoking weed, flirting with girls and supporting Donald Trump — had a message for non-Muslim Americans.

“Slaughter is in store for you by our hands,” he said.

Augustine was convicted at a trial in 2021 on a charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

At trial, he represented himself and testified in his own defense. Under cross-examination, he said that videos of beheadings committed by ISIS were “good” and that Islamic State propaganda videos were “cool.”

Augustine calmly addressed prosecutors when he said he did not regret his crimes.

“You are by my standard nothing more than filthy dogs and swine,” he said. “Should I repent to dogs and swine? I will never do that. The only thing you can expect for me is that I metaphorically spit in your face.”

Despite his rhetoric and beliefs, Augustine is not even the most violent person in his own family, prosecutors said.

His father, Samuel Ejaz, was sentenced to two terms of life in prison without parole for the vicious Salinas, Calif., murders of his estranged wife’s aunt and uncle. He also tried to kill his estranged wife, who is not Augustine’s mother, and her cousin.

Augustine celebrated his father’s violence — and said it didn’t go far enough.

“You should’ve killed her,” Augustine said to his father on a recorded jail call just months before he flew to Tunisia. “Fuck that b---h. You should’ve finished her off. ... That’s what she deserved. ... She needs to suffer.”

Prosecutors said Augustine’s lack of remorse makes him a continuing threat to Americans when he is released.

“After he left and was stopped from joining ISIS, the defendant had nearly six years to think about what he’d done,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Heeren. “When he came to trial he could have expressed remorse ... but he did not do that … and today he remains a steadfast and devout follower of ISIS.”

Judge Johnson lamented Augustine’s story as a young Indian immigrant to America who became a citizen before veering into terroristic plots.

“America loved you but you did not love America,” Johnson said as he handed down the stiff sentence.