Republican Rep. Jim Banks sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday, requesting the FBI to add the domestic terror group Antifa to a subsection of its list of extremist ideologies.
“The point of my letter is simple. Antifa employs violence to coerce Americans into silence,” Banks said in a statement. He urged the FBI to add a subsection titled “Anti-1st Amendment Extremists.”
“Antifa often describes itself as a ‘counter protest’ organization with the stated goal of suppressing fascist speech, political demonstrations, and media. Conveniently, Antifa has redefined fascism to include anyone who disagrees with their opaque political agenda. What that agenda is exactly is imprecise by design—their central aim is to silence any and all moderate and conservative politics or ideologies.”
“As a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, I am intimately familiar with the tactics of terrorist groups and how they employ fear/violence to silence political enemies,” Banks added. “To my great surprise, we are witnessing similar style tactics right here in our country. The FBI must take this threat seriously.”