FBI chief counters Trump, says antifa an ideology, not a group

Chris Wray’s testimony to lawmakers puts him at odds with the president, who has said he would designate antifa a terror organisation

He also warned of Russian interference in the November election and efforts to denigrate Joe Biden

3-MIN READ3-MIN

A member of the far-right group Proud Boys is arrested by police after allegedly attacking antifa protesters in Salem, Oregon. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:16pm, 18 Sep 2020Updated: 9:08pm, 18 Sep 2020

FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers on Thursday that antifa is an ideology, not an organisation, delivering testimony that puts him at odds with President Donald Trump, who has said he would designate it a terror group.

Wray did not dispute that antifa activists were a serious concern, saying that antifa was a “real thing” and that the FBI had undertaken “any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists,” including into individuals who identify with antifa.

But, he said, “It’s not a group or an organisation. It’s a movement or an ideology.”

That characterisation contradicts the depiction from Trump, who in June singled out antifa – short for “anti-fascists” and an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups – as responsible for the violence that followed George Floyd’s death.

Trump tweeted that the US would be designating antifa as a terrorist organisation, even though such designations are historically reserved for foreign groups and antifa lacks the hierarchical structure of formal organisations.