FBI, Other Agencies Ramp Up Antifa Probe

FBI agents revealed a clear resolve to implement President Donald Trump’s directive to disrupt and dismantle Antifa, a far-left group tied to violent protests and clashes with police and federal agents, according to a pair of nationally known media figures who said they were interviewed by agents.

Glenn Beck and Nick Sortor, who each have a large online following, separately posted on social media that FBI agents questioned them concerning information that they had gathered about Antifa. The interviews were the latest in a series of federal actions under Trump’s Sept. 22 order titled “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization.” The FBI and other federal agencies have launched investigations into the group’s operations, supporters, and funding sources.

Sortor said he received a call from the FBI on Oct. 12, and after confirming that other journalists had also been contacted, reported in an Oct. 13 post on X that the FBI had “spent the weekend calling journalists who’ve been victims of Antifa violence.”

“The Trump admin WILL take down this terrorist network,” he added.

Also on Oct. 13, Beck said in a video: “The FBI is turning over every single stone. It is so clear to me that they are exploring all angles of this, and they are talking to anyone and everyone that can give them any kind of information.”

Beck said he received a phone call alerting him that FBI Director Kash Patel wanted to send agents to speak to him at his home. He said he agreed to the meeting.

“Three agents sat in my living room on Saturday afternoon for almost two hours. … It was surreal,” Beck said in the video.

He said he had done a TV report “shattering the myth” that Antifa is “leaderless and decentralized,” and it attracted the FBI’s attention. One criticism of the executive order on Antifa has been that the group lacks a sophisticated structure and thus cannot be considered an organization, but Beck rejected the idea that the group and its leaders are “imaginary.”

“I would be very concerned if I were part of anything that was sending money their way or assistance their way … because the FBI is … serious” about taking action against the group, Beck said.

The interviews with Beck and Sortor follow an Oct. 8 White House roundtable in which Trump and about a dozen members of his administration met with journalists and commentators who have reported on Antifa or have been targets of Antifa violence or threats. Sortor was among the attendees.

Decades in the Making

Short for “antifascist,” the Antifa movement arose from communist roots in Europe. Antifa adherents often say they are willing to use “any means necessary” to ensure that people expressing viewpoints they dislike are allowed “no platform” to spread their messaging. Antifa protesters often wear all-black clothing including face masks to help them remain anonymous and avoid prosecution for vandalism, assaults, or other crimes.

Most recently, Antifa has been focused on attempting to prevent Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from arresting illegal immigrants. Violence, allegedly tied to Antifa and other far-left activists, has persisted in cities including Portland, Oregon, and Chicago.

“Pedophiles, murderers, sexual predators, and drug traffickers. These are the heinous criminals Antifa domestic terrorists are trying to obstruct law enforcement from removing from our communities,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said in an Oct. 7 statement, adding that more federal agents were being surged to the area to counteract violent ICE opponents.

In some instances, counterprotesters have come out to support ICE.

Patel said his agents are following Antifa-related money trails because “money never lies.” Speaking during the roundtable, Patel said cutting off its funding would “bring down this network of organized criminal thugs, gang-bangers, and yes, domestic terrorists, because that’s what they are.”

He accused Antifa of harming ordinary citizens across the United States in incidents that mainstream media refuse to report.

Patel vowed that his agency “will go after the criminals with a vengeance and will not rest until we find every single seed money, donor, organization and funding mechanism.”

He said Americans should be aware that Antifa “built this diseased temple of corruption over decades.” However, Trump’s leadership along with interagency cooperation have “crippled their foundation” in the first eight months of his term as the 47th president.

“They were able to hide and conspire with former administrations,” Patel said. He declared that criminal networks would be “crushed” to restore the law and order that Americans deserve.

Possible Money Sources Identified

Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News on Oct. 14 that Antifa demonstrators show up with “thousands of signs that all match,” an indicator that “they’re organized, and someone is funding it.”

“We’re going to get to the root of Antifa, and we’re going to find and charge all of those people who are causing this chaos in Portland and all these other cities across our country. … It’s going to stop under Donald Trump,” she said.

That same day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on “The Charlie Kirk Show” that his staff had already compiled a long list of Antifa’s possible benefactors.

“Just as @USTreasury led the effort after 9/11 to track terrorist financing, it will follow the money behind violent domestic networks. We will expose domestic terrorists and bring them to justice,” Bessent wrote on X.