PoliticoTrump says he’s naming Antifa a ‘Terrorist Organisation’. Can he do that?
- For one thing, the US president lacks the legal authority to designate a purely domestic group.
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Betsy Woodruff Swan on politico.com on May 31, 2020.
US President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that the US government would be “designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organisation.”
There were just two problems with that. First, he doesn’t appear to have the legal authority to do so. And second, it’s by no means clear the loosely defined group of radical activists is an organisation at all.
The Trump administration’s push to crack down on Antifa – short for “anti-fascist” – comes as large and small businesses in a host of American cities were looted and vandalised as people protested the death of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.
The president and his top officials, including Attorney General William Barr and national security adviser Robert O’Brien, have blamed Antifa for violence and property damage. In an on-camera statement Saturday, Barr said the Justice Department wouldn’t hesitate to prosecute people who crossed state lines to participate in violence, citing his authorities under anti-riot legislation.
Barr did not invoke laws against terrorism, which do not let the US government designate purely home-grown groups as terrorist organisations.