On the heels of President Donald Trump designating Antifa a domestic terror organization, he said he supports expanding the designation internationally.
The Center Square asked the president if he had plans to work with his administration to designate Antifa a foreign terror organization (FTO), to which he responded, “yes,” acknowledging the group is international.
An FTO designation would pressure other countries to follow suit, which is already being considered in the Netherlands.
According to the U.S. Department of State, an FTO would stigmatize and isolate the organizations internationally, “deter donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organizations,” raise awareness, and ” signal to other governments” concerns regarding the organizations.
Trump’s commitment to rooting out Antifa and other left-wing violent organizations has taken center stage since the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In addition to designating Antifa a domestic terror organization, the president issued a presidential memorandum Thursday evening that targets domestic terrorism and organized political violence.
In the memo, the White House warns that the recent rise in political violence isn’t “isolated incidents and does not emerge organically.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller described the move to target left-wing violence as “historic.”
“There is an all of government effort to dismantle left wing terrorism, to dismantle Antifa, to dismantle the organizations that have been carrying out these acts of political violence and terrorism,” Miller told the media. “What we have seen, if you look at whether it be going back to the riots that started with Black Lives Matter and all the way through to the Antifa riots, the attacks on ICE officers, the doxing campaigns and other political assassinations. These are not lone, isolated events. This is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism. It is structured; it is sophisticated. It is well funded. It is well planned.”
The administration says the move to target Antifa will allow the government to go after funding sources, with the president saying they are “looking at the funders of these groups.”
The Center Square previously reported that a foundation funded by billionaire George Soros has given $80 million to groups tied to “extremist violence,” including Antifa.
In designating it as a domestic terror group, 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.
