By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that federal law enforcement will be “very threatening” as it goes after the antifa movement, which he recently designated as a “terrorist organization.”
“They have been very threatening to people, but we’re going to be very threatening to them, far more threatening to them than they ever were with us, and that includes the people that fund them,” Trump said.
Trump made the comments at a roundtable about antifa at the White House. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were among the attendees.
Several of the attendees pointed to ongoing threats against law enforcement as they spoke about antifa. The threats, and crime, have been cited by Trump as reasons why he has sought to deploy National Guard troops to cities like Portland, Orgeon.
Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is a “decentralized, leaderless movement composed of loose collections of groups, networks and individuals,” according to the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks extremists.
Speaking at the roundtable, Bondi highlighted steps being taken by the Trump administration to combat antifa and threats toward law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She pointed to decision by Apple and Google to remove phone applications that track ICE, saying she hopes they continue to remove such applications.
“We’re deploying the full might of the federal law enforcement to crack down on antifa and other domestic terrorist organizations,” Bondi said.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Jasper Ward; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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