FBI Director Christopher Wray has clarified to Congress comments he made about antifa, confirming they are the target of multiple investigations.
Speaking at a Republican-led Senate Homeland Security committee on Thursday, Wray confirmed that the agency considers the far-left anarchist movement, which anti stands for "anti-fascism," a "real thing" that engages in violent acts and protests.
During a previous testimony before the House on September 17, Wray said the FBI did not consider antifa "a group or an organization" but rather a "movement or an ideology."
Within hours, Wray's remarks were attacked by President Donald Trump, who is trying to get antifa listed as a terrorist organization.
"And I look at them as a bunch of well funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source, and allows them to get away with "murder," Trump tweeted. "LAW & ORDER!"
Wray has now confirmed to Congress that the FBI considers antifa a threat and the movement is the subject of multiple investigations.
"Let me try to be as clear as I can about that: antifa is a real thing, it is not a fiction. We have seen organized tactical activity at the local regional level," Wray said.
"We have seen antifa adherence coalescing and working together in what I would describe as small groups and nodes," Wray said, adding the bureau is conducting multiple investigations "into some anarchist violent extremists, some of whom operate through these nodes."
He said: "We're going to be looking—and we have been looking—at their funding, their tactics, their logistics, their supply chains and we're going to pursue all available charges."
Wray added that the fact the FBI has found locally organized activity does not "diminishes how serious and dangerous it is."
"We don't view how nationally organized something is as a proxy for how dangerous it is."
Wray told Congress it is hard to pin an antifa ideology on some people who are organizing these unrests as they have a "mishmash [or] salad bar" of motives that are hard to define beyond wanting to cause violence.
Last month, self-described antifa follower Michael Forest Reinoehl was accused of shooting dead Aaron "Jay" Danielson, a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, during clashes between opposing groups in Portland, Oregon.
Acting DHS Deputy Secretary Kenneth Cuccinelli also said during his testimony before the committee that white supremacists groups are responsible for the most lethal attacks in the U.S. in recent years.
Cuccinelli added that the DHS has known for some time that "white supremacists act as terrorists, more people are killed. That is a higher lethality."
