FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday failed to name one terrorist organization they plan to investigate during a news conference at the Oval Office with President Donald Trump.
Trump signed a memorandum on the implementation of the death penalty in Washington, D.C, then a series of press questions followed after claims that “this is a very safe city right now, we don’t play games.”
“Who do you specifically want to target?” a reporter asked.
The three leaders were unable to respond to the questions, saying that they would “follow the money” and investigate “any organized group.”
But they still didn’t specifically name anything or anyone.
When pressed again, he responded, “antifa Soros… Well, [billionaire Democratic donor George] Soros is a name certainly that I keep hearing… I hear a lot of different names. I hear names of some pretty rich people that are radical left people, Maybe I hear about a guy named Reid Hoffman.”
Trump reportedly demanded that Soros, a longtime villain to conservatives, be thrown in prison, and the senior DOJ official’s directive lists possible charges – from arson to material support of terrorism – that prosecutors could file, according to a copy of the document viewed by The New York Times, which noted the memo suggests department officials are targeting individuals on the president’s orders.
“I don’t know, maybe, and maybe could be him, could be a lot of people,” Trump said.
Trump indicated that he wants to stop these unnamed groups or individuals from “performing acts of violence.”
“We’re looking at the funders of a lot of these groups. You know, when you see the signs, and they’re all beautiful signs, made professionally. These aren’t your protesters that make the sign in their basement late in the evening because they really believe it,” Trump claimed.
“These are anarchists and agitators — professional anarchists and agitators — and they get hired by wealthy people, some of whom I know, I guess, you know, probably know ’em. And you wouldn’t know it. You’re at dinner with them, everything’s nice and then you find out that they funded millions of dollars to these lunatics.”
Trump also invited his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, to say a few words.
“This is a very historic and significant day,” Miller said. “This is the first time in American history that there is an all-government effort to dismantle left-wing terrorism, to dismantle antifa, to dismantle violence and terrorism.”
Last week, Trump designated antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.” The loose-knit group does not have a leader and is comprised of people who generally describe themselves as anarchists, socialists, communists, and don’t generally share their identities to avoid retaliation from right-wing conservatives.
Miller argued that the government was looking at Black Lives Matter, Charlie Kirk’s killing, and attacks on ICE agents as “not lone, isolated events, this is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism… there is really no parallel like this…”
He claimed that a feeder organization was isolating public officials, doxxing government officials and attempting political assassinations.
“It is terrorism on our soil. Because of this executive order, Kash and Pam are going to have the tools they need working with Scott to take these organizations apart piece by piece, and the central hub of that effort is going to be the Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF, which sits inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Miller said.
Miller added that the investigation of terrorists, although it’s unclear who they are, would have the full support of the U.S. government.
“But for those at home who are worried about terrorism, understand because of President Trump’s strength, because of his vision, because of his leadership, we are now going to use the entire force of the federal government to uproot these organizations root and branch,” Miller said.
