WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement has evidence that “a witch’s brew of extremist groups” including Antifa are hijacking nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, Attorney General William Barr said Thursday.
Barr said he understood most protesters were peaceful demonstrators but that his Justice Department had since found evidence that “extremist agitators” were hijacking protests to “pursue their own separate and violent agenda.”
“We have evidence that Antifa and other similar extremist groups as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity,” Barr said at a press conference.
President Trump last week said he would designate Antifa, a shadowy, far-left radical group, as a terrorist organization and blamed the group for inciting the looting and burning of businesses as protests over Floyd’s death at the hands of Minnesota police have engulfed the nation in violence, looting and civil unrest.
The nation’s top law enforcement official said the feds had made 51 arrests in connection with violent rioting and called on state and local leaders to work with the National Guard.
Barr was pressed by reporters on far-right wing extremists who had also been arrested, including three men from the “Boogaloo” movement who wanted to incite a riot in Las Vegas in an alleged attempt to overthrow the United States government.
“There are some groups that don’t have a particular ideology, other than anarchy. There are some groups that want to bring about a civil war — the Boogaloo group that has been on the margin of this as well, trying to exacerbate the violence — so we’re dealing with, as I say, a witch’s brew of a lot of different extremist organizations,” he said.
Barr also explained his decision to forcibly clear protesters outside the White House on Monday evening, which was originally attributed to the president until the White House revealed it came at the attorney general’s direction.
He said the decision to extend the perimeter was made on Monday after more than 114 injuries — 22 of those requiring hospitalization — to law enforcement officials during protests in DC over the weekend.
Barr said by the time the plan to extend the buffer around the White House was made at 2 p.m., a large number of protesters had already started to gather in Lafayette Park.
“There were projecticles being thrown and it was becoming increasingly unruly. They were asked three times if they would move back one block. They refused and we proceeded to move our perimeter,” Barr said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray also singled out Antifa and other agitators who he said “set out to sow discord and upheaval, rather than join in the righteous pursuit of equality and justice.”
“We’ve directed our 200 joint terrorism task forces around the country to assist law enforcement with apprehending and charging violent agitators who are hijacking peaceful protests on a national level,” he said.
Wray said the FBI had also been “working hard to identify and prevent hate crimes and to investigate abuses of power and authority.”