ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — To some of the people who know him back home in Texas, Brandon Darby is a traitor.

In his own mind, he’s proud of what he did — feeding the FBI information that led to the arrests of two men accused of trying to disrupt the Republican National Convention.

‘‘I feel like, as an activist, I played a direct role in stopping violence,’’ Darby, 32, said in an interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Darby’s role as a confidential informant in the case leaked out in a pretrial hearing. It was a remarkable transformation for a man known to many back in Austin as a fiery, grass-roots activist with a mistrust of government.

Darby was key to the investigation of David Guy McKay and Bradley Neal Crowder, both of Austin. The two men are scheduled for federal trial on Jan. 26 for allegedly building Molotov cocktails during the convention. They have pleaded not guilty.