A top FBI official struggled on Thursday to answer basic questions about Antifa after a Mississippi congressman pushed him to explain why he described the left-wing political movement as the nation’s top domestic terrorism threat.
“The first one—President Trump has just announced an executive order, the domestic organization Antifa—that’s our primary concern right now,” FBI National Security Branch Operations Director Michael Glasheen said during a U.S. Homeland Security Committee meeting in Washington, D.C.
“OK, that’s what President Trump did. What does the FBI say?” Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who serves as the ranking member of the committee, replied.
“We share the same view,” the FBI official replied. “When you look at the data right now, you look at the domestic terrorist threat we’re facing, right now, what I see from my position is that’s the most immediate violent threat that we are facing on the domestic side.”
In September, Trump signed an executive order labeling Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Antifa is an anti-white supremacist, anti-fascist ideology, but has no organizational structure or leadership.
A Congressional Research Service report in 2020 said that Antifa adherents “view themselves as part of a protest tradition that arcs back to opposition groups in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy prior to World War II.” But it noted that U.S. Antifa groups trace back to antiracist groups that “mobilized in the 1980s while opposing the activities of racist skinheads, members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and neo-Nazis.”
“So where is ANTIFA headquartered?” Thompson asked Glasheen during Thursday’s committee hearing.
“What we’re doing right now with the organization—,” the FBI official began.
The Mississippi congressman cut him off.
“Where in the United States does ANTIFA exist if it’s a terrorist organization and you’ve identified it as number one?” Thompson reiterated.
“We’re building out the infrastructure right now,” Glasheen said.
“So what does that mean?” Thompson pressed. “I’m just, we’re trying to get the information. You said ANTIFA is a terrorist organization. Tell us, as a committee, how did you come to that? Where do they exist? How many members do they have in the United States as of right now?”
“Well, it’s very fluid,” Glasheen said. “It’s ongoing for us to understand that. It’s no different than Al Qaeda and ISIS.”
In October, the FBI brought what FBI Director Kash Patel called the first-ever Antifa-related terrorism charges against two suspects accused of setting off fireworks at an ICE facility in Texas before entering and firing upon officers using semiautomatic rifles. The attack, which a federal indictment says “Antifa cell members” carried out, left one officer injured.
But while the Trump administration has focused on the threat of terrorism from individuals associated with Antifa beliefs, U.S. government assessments have repeatedly found in recent years that white supremacist and other racially motivated groups pose the highest threat.
During the committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Thompson appeared increasingly frustrated as Glasheen avoided directly answering his questions about Antifa.
“I asked you one question, sir. I just want you to tell us: You said ANTIFA is the number one terrorist organization operating inside the United States,” the Mississippi Democrat said. “I just need to know where they are, how many people. I don’t want a name. I don’t want anything like that. How many people have you identified with the FBI that ANTIFA is made out of?”
“Well, the investigations are active,” Glasheen said, repeatedly raising his hands and dropping them down.
“Sir, you wouldn’t come to this committee and say something you can’t prove, I know. I knew you wouldn’t do that,” Thompson said.
Glasheen smiled.
“But you did.”
Watch the full exchange below:
