Bondi labels Antifa ‘no different’ than MS-13 gang and tells Americans to check with MAGA influencers to back up her claims

Attorney General Pam Bondi asserted Antifa was “no different” from the MS-13 drugs gang, citing the experiences of MAGA influencers to support her claims.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month designating Antifa – a loose grouping of antifascist activists – a “domestic terrorist organization” as he seeks to curb left-wing opposition to his administration. Legal experts warned that the order provided the government with a “permission slip” to target free speech of those he disagrees with.

“It’s organized crime. They are completely organized,” Bondi said of the decentralized movement, speaking on Fox News’s Hannity show Tuesday evening.

She accused Antifa of being responsible for the “chaos” in Portland and other cities, where crowds have protested the deployment of federal agents. “They’re at all of these events, they’re encouraging violence, they’re calling everyone fascist, but it’s more than that. It’s hurting the American people. They’re no different than MS-13 or any gang out there.”

She added: “Talk to all the influencers who have been threatened and beat up and their lives threatened from Antifa members. It’s going to stop under Donald Trump.”

The attorney general was referring to the right-wing media personalities who attended Trump's “Antifa roundtable” at the White House last week. The group included Katie Daviscourt, a journalist from the far-right news outlet The Post Millennial, who appeared on Fox News earlier this month with a black eye, the result of what she described as a clash with an “Antifa-affiliated” protester in Portland.

Similarly, MAGA influencer Nick Sortor was arrested outside of an ICE building in Portland this month after he got into a fight with a group of people he described as “Antifa thugs.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned the arrest and said he was “ambushed by Antifa.”

At the roundtable, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem likened Antifa to Hamas.

“They are just as sophisticated as MS-13, as [Tren de Aragua], as Isis, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them. They are just as dangerous,” Noem said. “They have an agenda to destroy us, just like the other terrorists we’ve dealt with for many, many years.”

The MS-13 gang has become another frequently mentioned threat during the second Trump administration. Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wrongful deportation — followed by his criminal indictment — has become a flashpoint of Trump’s second term, with administration officials accusing the Salvadoran national of being a member of the gang. Abrego Garcia has denied being a member.

Trump’s September 22 executive order last month followed the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk in Utah; the state’s governor claimed Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing Kirk, expressed “leftist ideology.” Authorities have not so far linked Robinson to Antifa.

The president condemned the “continuing violence from Radical Left Terrorists, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” writing in a Truth Social post on September 24: “We have already declared ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization, and I will be signing an Executive Order this week to dismantle these Domestic Terrorism Networks.”

Republicans have also connected the antifascist movement to the surge of protests outside of federal immigration facilities amid ICE raids and deployments of troops to cities across the country.

Last week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller alleged ICE officers in these cities have to do “hand-to-hand combat every night” against Antifa to come and go from the federal facilities.

Republicans and administration officials have already blamed Antifa as being behind the upcoming “No Kings” protests but without providing evidence. The demonstrations are scheduled for Saturday. In reality, the demonstrations are organized by a coalition of civil rights and advocacy groups. At the previous No Kings protest on June 14, millions of demonstrators took part in largely peaceful protests — with few arrests — in 2,000 locations across the country. Organizers have said they expect millions to attend Saturday’s wave of protests.

Still, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke about the upcoming protests to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Monday, saying: “This is part of Antifa, paid protesters, it begs the question who’s funding it?”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a press conference on Wednesday: “We call it the hate America rally that’ll happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that. I bet you see pro-Hamas supporters. I bet you see Antifa types. I bet you see the Marxists on full display.”