President Donald Trump officially designated Antifa a domestic terror organization Monday evening, allowing the federal government to “utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations.”
The designation comes exactly one week after The Center Square asked the president if he would designate the group following a spat of left-wing violence, including the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“I would do that 100% and others also, by the way, but Antifa, is terrible,” the president responded to The Center Square during an Oval Office event.
In the official designation, the White House describes Antifa as a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.” The designation added that Antifa uses “illegal means” to carry out “violence and terrorism nationwide” to achieve its goals.
The White House cited “coordinate efforts” to “obstruct” federal law enforcement, specifically immigration enforcement operations through “organized riots” and “violent assaults,” including doxing, which has led to many immigration officials masking their faces as protection.
“Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members,” according to the official designation. “Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech. This organized effort designed to achieve policy objectives by coercion and intimidation is domestic terrorism.”
The designation will allow law enforcement to utilize federal resources to investigate and “dismantle” “terrorist actions” attributed to the group or anyone “claiming to act on behalf” of the group. In addition, it will allow the federal government to investigate and prosecute those responsible for funding.
In a fact sheet released by the White House shortly after the designation, it listed several acts of violence attributed to Antifa, including a July ambush on an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, resulting in one officer being shot in the neck.
In May 2020, the Department of Justice “formally labeled Antifa violence as domestic terrorism.”
‘‘The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly,” according to a DOJ statement.
During the event in the Oval Office on Sept. 15, the president said he would consider designating other groups, but wouldn’t indicate others by name. He said he’s talked with Attorney General Pam Bondi about bringing federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges against some of these organizations and their donors.
