WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order designating Antifa a domestic terrorist organization "as soon as today," the White House announced Monday.
"Antifa is going to be designated a domestic terrorist organization. The president intends to sign that executive order very soon, as soon as it's drafted, as soon as today, later this afternoon," spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
"This is something the president campaigned on, because we have seen a rise in violence perpetuated by Antifa radical people across this country who subscribe to this group."
It is unclear how the president will make the designation. Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is a left-wing political culture more than an organization with a fixed leadership and members.
"We look at Antifa as more of an ideology or a movement than an organization," former FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress in 2020.
Trump announced via a social media post Wednesday that he intends to blacklist Antifa, calling it "a sick, dangerous, radical left disaster," vowing that it will be "thoroughly investigated."
"I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices," he said on his Truth Social platform.
Following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month, the White House vowed to step up its targeting of left-wing groups, accusing them of being behind the killing as well as most other political violence.
Trump’s critics pointed out that no motive has been announced for the Kirk killing, and no groups have been implicated. They also cite numerous studies saying that right-wing groups and actors are responsible for most of the violent political acts committed in the US.