President Trump on Thursday elaborated about designating Antifa as a terrorist organization, saying the government will investigate the left-wing group’s funding and its incitement of riots.
“We’re going to do a big thing with respect to Antifa. It’s a sick group. I mean, a very, very sick group…They love burning the American flag,” Mr. Trump said during an interview on Fox News. “I think it’s terrible that they burn the American flag. We’re going in, and we’re saying it incites riots.”
He added, “Therefore, you go to jail for one year if you burn the American flag. That’s different than Antifa, but Antifa burns a lot of American flags.”
Mr. Trump on Wednesday announced the terrorist designation for Antifa, a group whose name is short for anti-fascist and is known for violent demonstrations.
Mr. Trump now says the administration will look into domestic and foreign sources that could be funneling millions of dollars to support Antifa’s activity all over the country.
It surprised him, he said, that President Biden did not attempt to crack down on Antifa as it ramped up over the last four years.
“But then … he didn’t call the shots,” Mr. Trump said. “As we got to see what was happening in Biden’s group, Antifa plays perfectly for them, but it’s a terrorist organization, in my opinion.”
Key types of terrorist organizations include Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), designated by the U.S. Secretary of State under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).
While “domestic terrorism” is defined in federal statute, the term “domestic terrorist” is not used to officially label any group.
The Antifa movement is global but is not a single, unified organization. It is a decentralized collection of autonomous groups and individuals across the world.
The ACLU has called the crackdown against Antifa a move against free speech.
“President Trump seems hell bent on targeting real or perceived political opponents based on their constitutionally protected beliefs in speech, and we should all be very clear that he is jeopardizing everyone’s First Amendment rights,” the civil rights organization said in a statement.
Still, crackdowns on organizations such as Antifa are not unusual in the modern era, regardless of which party is in the White House.
Chad Wolf, who served as acting secretary of homeland security during Mr. Trump’s first term, told Fox News that the Department of Justice and the FBI charged people with domestic terrorism going back years.
“What happens is, obviously, they’re arrested on an underlying charge of some kind, whether it’s attempted murder, arson, whatever it might be, and then you’re able to also designate them as domestic terrorism for enhanced penalties, enhanced investigative tactics and doing other things,” Mr. Wolf said.
“I think what President Trump is saying is, let’s start using that for Antifa as well, because of the violent tendencies and the violent actions that they have done around the country.”
The FBI under Mr. Biden described traditional Catholics as “radical-traditionalist” and were “domestic terrorism threats.”
Mr. Wolf said that while Antifa is decentralized, they do have chapters in Rose City, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and Portland, Oregon.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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