Federal prosecutors never mention anti-fascist activists known as antifa in court documents filed in the cases against 51 people charged over recent unrest, NPR reported Tuesday.
The nonprofit media organization reported that a review it conducted of court documents involving the dozens of defendants facing federal charges over violence that erupted across the country following the racially charged killing of George Floyd late last month found “no sign of so-called antifa links,” despite both President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr recently blaming those riots on the far-left movement.
Twenty of the cases involve arson, 16 are firearms offenses, eight relate to inciting a riot or civil disorder and four are for looting, and none make any mention of antifa, NPR reported.
The review of the court records found the only instance in which an extremist group is mentioned involves three defendants accused of belonging to the far-right Boogaloo movement, the report said. Those men were arrested in Nevada this month on terrorism-related charges stemming from allegedly planning to attack a Black Lives Matter protest in Las Vegas.
Former federal prosecutors interviewed by NPR said that the government likely would have included any alleged connections to an extremist group in the charging documents if investigators were aware of them, but that it also could be possible that some connections may be uncovered as the cases unfold, the outlet reported.
Nonetheless, the apparent absence in the court filings of any mention of antifa strikes a sharp contrast with the Trump administration’s assertion the movement is at least partially to blame for violence that erupted in some cities amid nationwide demonstration held following Floyd’s recent killing in police custody.
“I want the organizers of this terror to be on notice that you will face severe criminal penalties and lengthy sentences in jail,” Mr. Trump said during an address on June 1 in which he threatened to deploy the U.S. military to quell the unrest sparked by Floyd’s death. “This includes antifa and others who are leading instigators of this violence.”
More recently, Mr. Barr blamed antifa during an address last week announcing that authorities had made 51 arrests so far for federal crimes related to the rioting.
“We have evidence that antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity,” Mr. Barr said at a press conference Thursday.
The Associated Press reported that same day that it found “scant evidence” to blame antifa for the violence.
Floyd, 46, died May 25 after being restrained for nearly nine minutes by several members of the Minneapolis Police Department. A black man, his death at the hands of law enforcement has since sparked global protests against police brutality and systemic racism, including in some cities where recent demonstrations were marred by acts of arson and looting, prompting Mr. Trump last week to threaten to deploy the military on American soil.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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