FBI Director Wray: 'Antifa is a real thing,' FBI has cases against people identifying with movement
FBI Director Chris Wray made clear that Antifa is not a made-up, right-wing conspiracy theory and that the FBI has cases involving those connected to it.
Appearing at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday, Wray explained that while Antifa is not an organization in the traditional sense, it is a movement and there have been suspects who claimed to be a part of it.
"Antifa is a real thing. It's not a group or an organization. It's a movement, or an ideology may be one way of thinking of it," Wray said. "And we have quite a number and I've said this quite consistently since my first time appearing before this committee we have any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists and some of those individuals self-identify with Antifa."
Wray's words were in response to Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., who claimed prominent Democrats have called Antifa a "fantasy." In July, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., had dismissed the idea of Antifa violence in Portland as "a myth that's being spread only in Washington, D.C."
Later in the hearing, Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., asked for clarification about the nature of Antifa, and Wray explained further.
"Antifa is a real thing. It’s not a fiction," Wray reiterated." But it is — it’s not an organization or a structure." He again described it as more of a "movement" but again noted that there have been those who self-identify as being a part of it.
"They say 'I am Antifa,'" Wray stated.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sent a to letter Nadler, the committee's chair, criticizing him for launching “fruitless partisan investigations” into President Trump while ignoring the threat of Antifa.
The letter called on Nadler to denounce “left-wing violent extremism” and convene a hearing to investigate the unrest engulfing a number of cities across the country.
While Nadler and other Democrats have remained relatively quiet on Antifa, the party’s presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has condemned the movement.
Speaking to a local news station in Pennsylvania last week, Biden said he is against all violence.
"I've condemned it across the board," Biden told Pennsylvania's WGAL News 8 in an interview Monday, referring to violence during protests.
"Do you condemn Antifa?" reporter Barbara Barr asked Biden.
"Yes, I do, violence no matter who it is," he replied.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-director-wray-antifa-cases-real