President Biden said Tuesday night that he views white supremacist groups as domestic terror organizations, and he wants the Justice Department to focus on extremists because they are “demented.”
The president also said he’s concerned about the role of military veterans and former police officers in the rise of extremist groups.
At a town-hall meeting in Milwaukee, Mr. Biden was asked how he will deal with the threat of white supremacists, including those who participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“It is complex, it is wide-ranging and it is real,” Mr. Biden said of the problem. He said he wants to make sure the Justice Department “is focused heavily on those very folks.”
“That is the greatest threat to terror in America, domestic terror,” Mr. Biden said. “I would make sure that we in fact focus on how to deal with the rise of white supremacy … It is a bane on our existence. These guys .. and women are, in fact, demented, they are dangerous people.”
He also said there should be a review “about the impact of former military, former police officers on the growth of white supremacy and some of these groups.”
His comments came on the same day that a Democratic House lawmaker and the NAACP sued former President Donald Trump and the right-wing extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers in federal court for their alleged roles in the riot. Five people died in the violence.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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