US President Donald Trump designates Antifa a terror group on Twitter. He also blames them for violence throughout George Floyd protests.
The president suggests that Antifa is the root of violence at anti-police brutality demonstrations and should be officially categorized as terrorists.
"The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization," Trump wrote in a tweet.
Antifa or "anti-fascists" typically refers to left-leaning anti-racist groups that have participated in various violent events in recent years. The movement lacks established structure or national leadership.
Trump has been known for detesting left-wing agitators in his presidency. They have been called "alt-left" since 2017 when clashes between white counterprotesters and nationalists emerged in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"The violence and vandalism is being led by antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down buildings," Trump said at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday.
On Sunday, Trump criticized Minneapolis' Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey on Twitter for his alleged inability to manage protesters who became violent. Several nights of protests took place in Minneapolis last week after George Floyd, an African American man, died in police custody.
Prior to his death, a video of Floyd telling a police officer with his knee in Floyd's neck that he could no longer breathe became viral.
Meanwhile, Trump expressed his gratitude to the National Guard, the "ANTIFA led anarchists, among others, were shut down quickly."
Domestic terrorism
According to Attorney General William Barr, antifa and other similar groups are responsible for the violent protests around the country. He called their acts "domestic terrorism."
Barr did not specify which groups had participation or where they origination. However, he said the Justice Department and the FBI will work on locating, arresting, and charging "criminal organizers and instigators."
"With the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful and legitimate protests have been hijacked by violent radical elements. Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate, violent, and extremist agenda," Barr said.
"It is time to stop watching the violence and to confront and stop it," Barr added. "The continued violence and destruction of property endangers the lives and livelihoods of others, and interferes with the rights of peaceful protestors, as well as other citizens."
To "coordinate federal resources with our state and local partners," Barr said he would work with the "existing network of 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces."
"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," Barr said.
ACLU's reaction
Trump did not have the power to assign which group is practicing terrorism, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
"Terrorism is an inherently political label, easily abused and misused," the organization stated in a tweet. "Let’s be clear: There is no legal authority for designating a domestic group. Any such designation would raise significant due process and First Amendment concerns."
"He can call it whatever he wants, but he has no authority to designate antifa as a terrorist organization," David Cole, the ACLU's national legal director, said in an interview with USA TODAY.
"The only authority that Congress has created for designating groups as terrorists is limited to international terrorist organizations and groups that are supporting international terrorist organizations," Cole said. "There is no authority to designate a wholly domestic organization as terrorists."
"You have a constitutional right to associate with and support all sorts of organizations whether Donald Trump likes them or not," he added.
For Cole, Barr is "perfectly free to investigate the antifa movement and to prosecute individuals who engage in criminal conduct. But what he and President Trump cannot do is make the entire group or movement into a criminal enterprise."
Prosecuting antifa
Robert O'Brien, Trump's national security adviser, said that the administration will "get to the bottom" of antifa's participation in the protests. He added that the president and Barr monitor what the FBI is doing to "to track and dismantle and surveil and prosecute antifa."
O'Brien condemned "these antifa militant radicals who come into our cities and cross state lines.
"They're organized, and use Molotov cocktails and fireworks and gas to burn down our cities, especially businesses in minority neighborhoods. It's got to be stopped," he said on "State of the Union."
However, some pointed their fingers at right-wing provocateurs seeking to trigger a race war for the violence.
"The truth is nobody really knows," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press."
"What the exact political motivation is is unclear at this point. We need to investigate it," Ellison said.
"They have actually tried to walk back their involvement in key states where they existed under the Obama Administration. They have not moved forward when it comes to 21st century policing, which the Obama Administration started," Ellison said.
"So I think the federal government does have a role, but it needs to be constructing a better relationship between cities and the police departments that serve them. And making incendiary comments about who's to blame here as opposed to actually investigating it isn't helpful."
