Letter to the Hon. William Barr, US Attorney General, the Hon. Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, and the Hon. Chad Wolf, Secretary of Homeland Security - Oversight Committee Chairs Demand Trump Administration Investigate White Supremacist Activity at Protests

Letter

This same letter was also sent to Chad Wolf, Secretary of Homeland Security

Dear Attorney General Barr and Director Wray:
We are troubled that the Trump Administration has repeatedly levied baseless
accusations against demonstrators protesting racial discrimination in the U.S. criminal justice
system by labelling them "Antifa" terrorists, while refusing to condemn or even acknowledge
white supremacists and other far-right extremists who have sought to exploit the protests to
advance their own racist ideological objectives and plans for a race war.
The Trump Administration's decision to ignore the involvement of white supremacist
groups in these protests in favor of spreading wildly exaggerated rumors about Antifa has only
served to encourage right-wing militias provoking violence, to delegitimize the grievances of
peaceful protestors, and to add serious danger, intimidation, and fear to already emotionally
charged situations.

Overwhelming Evidence of White Supremacist Attempts to Interfere in Recent Protests

At demonstrations across the country, far-right extremists have appeared at rallies,
sometimes with assault rifles, as part of a loosely organized network of white supremacist and
anti-government organizations seeking to spark violence between activists and police forces.In Minnesota, where Mr. Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek
Chauvin, officials "have identified white nationalist groups operating on the ground amid the
protests in Minneapolis and St. Paul." Officials found white nationalist recruitment posters in
the Twin Cities, and State Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell described the associated
groups as "agitators."
John Harrington, Minnesota's Department of Safety Commissioner, said that some of the
40 arrests made in the Twin Cities on May 29, 2020, were linked to white supremacist groups.

Local activists on the ground during the Minneapolis demonstrations identified armed members
of the Three Percenters militia, one of the largest militia networks in the United States.

Officials in Pennsylvania have stated that they have "definite evidence" of white
supremacists joining protests, wearing body armor, carrying handguns, and throwing rocks and
bottles at police.
In other instances, white supremacist groups such as the Patriot Front
cultivated misinformation campaigns to sow discord ahead of peaceful demonstrations.

White supremacists were also active online and on social media in an attempt to incite
violence. On June 1, 2020, Twitter announced that an account pretending to represent left-wing
activists was linked to white supremacist group Identity Evropa. Twitter deleted the account
after it spread calls for violence.8

On June 5, 2020, Facebook announced it had shut down nearly 200 pages and accounts
associated with far-right extremist groups, including the American Guard and Proud Boys, after
group members discussed bringing weapons to protests.On June 2, 2020, a report issued by the Network Contagion Research Institute, an
independent non-profit organization, indicated that a network of right-wing militia groups
incubated during the coronavirus crisis is acting as an "agent of discontent and chaos" during the
ongoing protests against police brutality.
On June 3, 2020, three former military servicemembers with ties to the far-right, antigovernment "Boogaloo" movement were arrested on terrorism-related charges after conspiring to
spark violence during a demonstration against police brutality in Las Vegas.
On June 5, 2020, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine suspended and removed an Ohio
National Guardsman who espoused white supremacist ideologies online. The guardsman, who
had been deployed to Washington, D.C., as part of President Trump's militarized response to
largely peaceful protests, has been reported to have bragged about receiving "real ammunition to
shoot and kill" and used a white supremacist acronym for "race and holy war."
Baseless Delegitimization of Peaceful Protestors as "Antifa" Terrorists
President Trump has repeatedly called protestors and looters "Antifa" in an effort to
delegitimize the overwhelmingly peaceful and effective protest movement to win cheap political
points. As protests spread in the wake of Mr. Floyd's murder, the President called for a "total
shutdown of Radical Left Anarchists," decried the "gravity and depravity of the Radical Left,
looters and thugs," denounced "killers, terrorists, anarchists, thugs, hoodlums, looters, ANTIFA
& others," and, revealingly, quoted a television host on Twitter who said that he did not see "any
indication that there were any white supremest [sic] groups mixing in. This is an ANTIFA
organization." President Trump has even declared he would designate Antifa as a terrorist
organization, despite the lack of any clear legal authority to do so.
The President's clear desire to vilify peaceful demonstrations by branding them as Antifa
radicals has continued even after clashes between protesters and law enforcement ebbed. On
June 9, President Trump baselessly and absurdly accused a 75-year-old peace activist of being an
Antifa "provocateur" as the activist lay in a hospital bed recovering from head injuries sustained
in a brutal public assault by police officers in Buffalo.
You have both echoed the President's strategy. On May 31, 2020, despite the growing
evidence of white supremacist agitators in recent protests, Attorney General Barr, declared--
without evidence--that violence across the country has been "instigated and carried out by
Antifa and other similar groups." On June 4, 2020, Attorney General Barr repeated this false
allegation in a news conference, singling out "Antifa and other similar extremist groups" for
their supposed role in "instigating and participating in violent activity." Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, who joined the Attorney General at the news
conference, asserted that "anarchists like Antifa and other agitators" are "exploiting this situation
to pursue violent extremist agendas."
Most disturbingly, when Attorney General Barr was asked directly by a reporter about the
June 3, 2020, arrests of three far-right "Boogaloo" extremists, he refused to explicitly call
attention to white supremacist groups or far-right organizations.
He instead chose to frame his
response in a way that deceivingly emphasized Antifa, saying that there was a "witch's brew of
extremist individuals" and that "in addition to Antifa and other extremist groups like Antifa,
there were a variety of groups and people of a variety of ideological persuasions."
This fraudulent and inflammatory approach not only directly contravenes established
facts on the ground, but also contradicts the actions and assessment of your own Department and
other Trump Administration agencies.
The FBI has reportedly found "no intelligence" to show Antifa's involvement or presence
in D.C.-area protests on May 31.
An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memorandum cited the FBI in warning that a white supremacist online channel has encouraged
followers to incite violence to start a race war. DHS indicated that "white supremacists were
working online to increase tensions between protesters and law enforcement by calling for acts
of violence against both groups."
Even more recently, a threat assessment produced by the FBI, DHS, and the National
Counterterrorism Center made only limited mention of left-wing Antifa activists, and instead
concluded that the greatest threat of violence comes from lone offenders or domestic extremist
groups, "including militia extremists and [groups] who advocate a belief in the superiority of the
white race." The agencies specifically point to white supremacists within the "Boogaloo"
movement who have "sought to bring about a second civil war . . . by intentionally instigating
violence at First Amendment protected activities."
Finally, although the Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged over 50 individuals in
connection with the protests, not a single one has been linked to Antifa or "other similar
groups." Publicly available arrest records and criminal complaints show that federal law
enforcement have not uncovered any efforts by Antifa activists to escalate violence at protests.
This lack of evidence is particularly telling given reports that the FBI has been actively harassing
peaceful protestors, searching for non-existent links to Antifa.
The Department of Justice Appears To Not Be Taking White Supremacy Seriously
Committee staff have requested a briefing on this critical issue from the FBI weeks ago,
but Bureau has failed to provide one. We insist that DOJ and the FBI investigate these matters fully and provide a briefing by June 30, 2020, to explain what your agencies are doing to tackle
the serious public safety problem of white supremacists instigating violence at peaceful protests.
We also insist that your agency share whatever evidence it has gathered to support Attorney
General Barr's allegations regarding "Antifa and other similar groups" by June 25, 2020.
People of all races are coming together across the nation to peacefully protest police
brutality against African Americans and the structural racism that has brought America to this
moment of reckoning. The infiltration of peaceful protests by white supremacists seeking to
incite violence is a serious danger to public safety and should be a major focus of the
Department's attention, not an inconvenient truth to be swept under the rug.
The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the principal oversight committee of the
House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate "any matter" at "any time" under
House Rule X. An attachment to this letter provides additional instructions for responding to the
Committee's request. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact
Committee staff at (202) 225-5051.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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