Journalist Recounts Violent Antifa Attacks

Investigative journalist Andy Ngo fled a group of violent Antifa protesters in Portland, Oregon: crying out for assistance, his heart pounding, and in fear for his life.

“I didn’t know I could run that fast,” Ngo told Jan Jekielek, host of EpochTV’s American Thought Leaders, for a show that will air on Oct. 16 at 9 p.m. ET. 

Ngo, now 39, recounted the harrowing experience that unfolded late on a Friday night in May 2021.

“I ran in the middle of the cars in the streets at the red light, pounding on windows and cars asking for help, and when the light turned green, they drove off,” Ngo said.

Moments later, the mob caught up with him. They attacked, beat, and choked him until blood vessels in his eyes burst and his brain began hemorrhaging.

“That was my one near-death experience,” Ngo said. “And I was just thinking about my family and those I cared for and loved.”

The incident marked the second time he was assaulted by Antifa in Portland; the first was in 2019 when he was attacked while covering riots.

No arrests were made after either assault.

Fearing for his life, Ngo relocated to the United Kingdom, but his nine-year investigation into Antifa continues.

Antifa is an ideologically far-left extremist group that can trace its roots to the Soviet Union, and that functioned as the violent wing of Germany’s Communist Party to target political rivals.

The organization is known for using political violence against its opponents, whom it routinely labels as fascists.

President Donald Trump designated the group a domestic terrorist organization in an executive order signed on Sept. 22.

On multiple occasions in Northern California and in Portland over the past five years, Antifa rioters wearing all black, with their faces covered, have harassed reporters, photographers, and camera crews working for The Epoch Times and its sister media outlet NTD.

Looking for Solutions

Trump held a roundtable discussion at the White House on Oct. 8, which included Ngo, to brainstorm how best to dismantle Antifa.

Stopping the flow of resources to the group is a priority, according to the president, who said investigations are underway to follow the money.

Funding mechanisms are complicated, Ngo said, as Antifa benefits from grants, collaboration with some nongovernmental organizations, and crowdsourcing.

Seemingly high levels of coordination are the result of loosely assembled vast networks, rather than a structural organization, he said.

“It’s meant to appear as if there is no organization, but they are organized,” Ngo said—emphasizing the coordination he’s seen over the years as identically dressed activists appear together, wreak havoc, and disappear as one.

Members are instructed on how to destroy evidence, and arrests are encouraged, as they often lead to substantial payouts for those detained.

“If you live in a liberal jurisdiction, it’s likely that your city has settled very large amounts to rioters who were arrested in 2020,” Ngo said.

The International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund states it has spent more than $250,000 in legal and other aid to more than 800 “anti-fascists” in 26 countries, including the United States.

Ngo said civil problems are plaguing the nation, after seeing the defense of Antifa rioters from the general public, and the disparaging comments made after the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

“Their ultimate goal is to destroy everything,” Ngo said. “And if people want to see how they envision their society, look at … the autonomous zones that they set up.”

He thanked Trump for prioritizing the dissolution of Antifa, a sharp turnaround from President Joe Biden’s administration.

“We’ve seen a lot of violence,” Ngo said. “We’ve been subjected to violence, and for a long time, it fell on deaf ears.”

—Travis Gillmore; Stacy Robinson

BOOKMARKS

President Donald Trump yesterday posthumously awarded Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Kirk’s widow, Erika, accepted the award at a White House Rose Garden ceremony held on what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday.

Trump is considering halting the purchase of cooking oil and other goods from China as “retribution” for its refusal to purchase soybeans from U.S. farmers. “The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying,” he said on social media.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine advisory panel will reassess the childhood immunization schedule, including a safety check for some ingredients found in the shots. The group will “determine whether a change in the vaccine schedule may be warranted [and] outline various options,” according to a document released last week.  

The White House Office of Management and Budget plans to “ride out” the shutdown, no matter how long it takes. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue [agency layoffs], and wait,” the agency said in a post on X. 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that the Coast Guard will be paid during the shutdown. “While Democrats have played politics with military pay to fight for illegal aliens, the U.S. Coast Guard has been defending our maritime borders, stopping the flow of deadly narcotics and illegal immigration into our country, and countering America’s adversaries around the world,” Noem said on X.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will airdrop oral rabies vaccines on six states this month, in an effort to reduce the disease among local wildlife. “By reducing rabies in wildlife populations, we are safeguarding both human and animal health and decreasing the risk of disease spread,” USDA official Dr. Michael Watson said earlier this year.