Donald Trump has warned that his administration will target anyone funding the operations of the anti-fascist Antifa movement, with the president speculating that some of the alleged donors could be people he “dined with.”
He made the comments as he hosted a White House roundtable on Wednesday to discuss the Antifa movement. Last month, he signed an executive order designating the movement a domestic “terrorist organisation.”
“They [Antifa] have been very threatening to people, but we’re going to be threatening to them. Far more threatening to them than they ever were with us, and that includes the people that fund them,” Trump said.
“Probably some of the people I know, some of the people I dined with. If they do they’re in deep trouble. So we’re going to be looking very strongly at the people funding these operations.”
Antifa is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at protests. The president has previously described the movement as a “sick, dangerous, radical Left disaster.”
The designation allows the Justice Department to prosecute people who give material support to entities on the terror list even if that support does not result in violence.
The executive order accused Antifa of using “illegal means to organise and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide” to try to overthrow the federal government.
The order calls on relevant government departments and agencies to investigate, disrupt and dismantle all illegal operations, including terrorist actions carried out by Antifa or anyone claiming to act on its behalf.
It comes as Trump continues to threaten to send National Guard troops into Democratic-led cities, amid a sweeping crime crackdown which began in Washington DC.
Speaking at the roundtable, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed Democrats were “absolutely covering up the terrorism that is hitting their streets.”
She accused Antifa of wanting “to destroy the American people and their way of life.”
The Antifa movement encourages members to take part in lawful protest activity as well as more confrontational acts, according to a 2018 Congressional Research Service report.
During Trump’s first term in office, he blamed Antifa for the violence at protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd.
He recently began calling out Antifa again after last month’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
