Trump to designate Antifa ‘a major terrorist organisation’

In a post on social media, the US President said he would order investigations into anyone funding Antifa.

Donald Trump and King Charles speak during the state banquet in Windsor Castle. Picture: AP

Donald Trump has said he would designate Antifa “a major terrorist organisation”, a move he has threatened since his first term.

“I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.

Antifa, short for short for “anti-fascists”, is an umbrella term for far-left militant groups and is not a singular entity.

The US President, currently on a state visit to the United Kingdom, didn’t offer any other details and it is unclear how the administration would label what is effectively a decentralised movement as a terrorist organisation

Mr Trump called Antifa a “SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER”, in his post.

Antifa is a domestic entity and, as such, is not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organisations.

Dozens of groups, including extremist organisations such as Islamic State and al-Qa’ida, are included on that list. The designation matters in part because it enables the Justice Department to prosecute those who give material support to entities on that list even if that support does not result in violence.

There is no domestic equivalent to that list in part because of broad First Amendment protections enjoyed by organisations operating within the US. And despite periodic calls, particularly after mass shootings by white supremacists, to establish a domestic terrorism law, no singular statute now exists.

In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Mr Trump said he would pursue a domestic terrorism designation for Antifa if such a move had the support of Attorney-General Pam Bondi and others in his cabinet.

“It’s something I would do, yeah,” Mr Trump said. ”I would do that 100 per cent. Antifa is terrible.”

Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy praised Mr Trump’s announcement, saying: “Antifa seized upon a movement of legitimate grievances to promote violence and anarchy, working against justice for all. The President is right to recognise the destructive role of Antifa by designating them domestic terrorists.”

In July 2019, Senator Cassidy and Texas senator Ted Cruz introduced a resolution in the Senate to condemn the violent acts of Antifa and to designate it a domestic terror organisation.

In 2020, in the midst of the George Floyd protests, Mr Trump also raised the idea of designating Antifa as a terror organisation.

Mr Trump’s previous FBI director, Christopher Wray, said in testimony that year that Antifa is an ideology, not an organisation, lacking the hierarchical structure that would usually allow it to be designated as a terror group by the federal government.