Trump says he would designate Antifa as ‘domestic terror organization'

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Monday that he would consider designating the far-left group Antifa as a "domestic terror organization."

"It's something I would do, yeah, if I have support from the people back here. I think would start with Pam, I think," Trump said in the Oval Office while flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others in response to a reporter's question.

"I would do that 100% and others also, by the way, but Antifa is terrible," he said.

Trump signaled his intention to target left-wing groups whose activity he claims has led to violence.

"There are other groups, yeah, there are other groups. We have some pretty radical groups, and they got away with murder," he said, without giving details.

Trump said he has been speaking to Bondi about bringing racketeering charges against some of the people "that have been putting up millions and millions of dollars for agitation."

“I’ve asked Pam to look into that in terms of RICO, bringing RICO cases,” he said.

“They should be put in jail. What they’re doing to this country is really subversive," he added.

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is one of the government's most powerful tools to crack down on organized crime. It was central to the effort to break up the American mafia by allowing prosecutors to tie together apparently unrelated crimes that were being conducted as part of a criminal endeavor.