Experts on extremism say President Trump lacks the legal authority to designate antifa as a terrorist organisation, but warn the move could still suppress constitutionally protected speech. The White House roundtable highlights the ongoing debate over handling domestic extremism.

Washington

President Donald Trump and senior administration officials held a roundtable at the White House focused on Antifa, shortly after the president signed an executive order designating the movement as a terrorist organization. The event featured independent journalists recounting experiences of violence, while officials discussed the use of government resources to investigate Antifa's alleged infrastructure and financial networks.

Despite the administration's strong stance, the roundtable did not present concrete evidence or crime statistics regarding Antifa. Legal experts and local officials have questioned the administration's authority to label Antifa as a domestic terrorist group, noting that existing terrorism regulations typically require a foreign connection. Additionally, local leaders in cities such as Portland and Chicago have expressed opposition to federal intervention, and a federal judge temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard troops to Oregon.

White House holds Antifa roundtable amid legal, free speech concerns

And happening right now, President Donald Trump and senior administration officials are holding a roundtable about Antifa. Now, this listening session featured White House officials hearing from independent journalists about violence they say they experienced from the political movement. This roundtable comes two weeks after President Trump signed an executive order designating Antifa as a terrorist organization. You can see their live images from inside the White House of this roundtable. And Scripps News reporter and producer Jacob Gardenswartz is live just outside the White House with the very latest on this. So Jacob, I know it's still happening, but so far, what has stood out to you about this roundtable, about this event? Yeah, Maritza, I've been listening in, and I would say there are really two key points that have stood out to me in terms of real takeaways from this event, what was described by one White House official as a, quote, listening session. The first is just the degree, the scale to which the Trump administration and senior officials are really wholeheartedly embracing this issue and trying to look at it head on. You can see that not only by the number of senior officials present, Attorney General Bondly, Secretary of Homeland Security Noem, FBI Director Patel, among others, but officials speaking quite blatantly about the wide use of government resources that they are employing to try to track down what they have described as Antifa terrorists, you know, going after not only individuals accused of crimes, but also the supposed infrastructure that's backing them, as well as financial networks that may be supporting them. You heard the Attorney General suggesting that or thanking the Treasury Secretary for his help looking within financial networks in the United States. Of course, interesting, because as we've been discussing, we know that Antifa is not a formally or traditionally organized group. It doesn't have a formal membership, a hierarchy, a leader. There's no dues that one would pay. So what exactly it is that they're trying to track down remains to be seen. We have not yet received any concrete data or reports from the White House in terms of their findings, though officials are certainly suggesting that they have uncovered evidence. Let's listen to what the attorney general had to say on that. We're not going to stop at just arresting the violent criminals we can see in the streets. Finding crime is more than just getting the bad guy off the streets. It's breaking down the organization brick by brick, just like we did with cartels. That tie to cartels, they're quite interesting. It was just a few days ago that we were chatting here about a memo we obtained at Scripps News that White House leaders had sent to Congress justifying some strikes that the administration had directed on cartels and drug boats in the Caribbean Sea. That's something that many officials in Congress, Democrats and some Republicans, had alleged might have been illegal or run afoul of rules because of existing regulations concerning the use of force. Now you have White House officials suggesting that they're going to use similar tactics against a domestic group, an American group, Antifa, that has no formal organization. And so it remains to be seen what the legal backing for that is. And as we were discussing earlier today, of course, some experts we've consulted with raising questions about how it even is that the White House can label Antifa a domestic terrorism group, given that all of the existing regulations concerning terrorism require some form of foreign connection. If it's an FTO, foreign terrorist organization, if it's an SDGT, specially designated global terrorist, that requires some sort of foreign involvement or component there. So, of course, the attorney general suggesting somehow that the administration might be pursuing similar tactics against Antifa really remains an open question as to how they might legally be able to do so. Maritza? It's fascinating, and I want to ask how the facts on the ground square with what we've already heard so far and what we're hearing. Yeah, I want to leave the exact crime statistics to later on, because I know we have some other experts on that coming up. We'll be able to break down the numbers in more detail. But I think it was notable that we didn't hear really any statistics or data points in these conversations so far. It's been a lot of anecdotes from these independent journalists describing the experiences that they have had. And, of course, I don't want to characterize or speak to whether or not those are real. But we can look at what local officials on the ground are saying and what the data shows. And officials on the ground in Portland and in Chicago say that they have things under control, that, in fact, they don't want federal intervention in this way. I was reading through the case files in the lawsuit that was filed by officials in Oregon trying to block President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops there over the weekend. A Portland police official writing, quote, Of course, a federal judge who ultimately ruled in favor of the state of Oregon, at least temporarily, from sending in the Guard, found those arguments persuasive. She said in court, quote, That's a judge who was appointed by President Trump himself. The administration has appealed that ruling. A hearing expected on the topic tomorrow. Maritza? All right. A lot of information there. Scripps News White House reporter and producer Jacob Gardensworth. Thank you so much.

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