AG Barr: Experienced Antifa militants are flying around the country to instigate rioting

In an interview, Attorney General William Barr said that members of the radical leftist organization Antifa were being flown all around the country in order to committ crimes and to participate in riots.

“I have talked to every police chief in every city where there has been major violence,” said Barr, “and they all have identified Antifa as the ramrod for the violence. They are flying around the country. We know people who are flying around the country. We know where they’re going.”

Barr said that his department was following a number of Antifa militants who were purchasing weapons before riots occurred. He also emphasized that crossing state lines in order to instigate or participate in a riot is illegal and is considered a federal offense. 

Barr noted that many of the rioters arrested have self-identified as members of the nationwide Antifa network, while many more have refused to specify whether or not they were a member of the domestic terrorist organization. Antifa members have been arrested in places like Green Bay, Wisconsin, Portland, Oregon and even in Washington, D.C., the latter of which was information revealed by President Donald Trump himself.

In a Fox News interview, Trump said that his administration is currently investigating alleged Antifa “thugs” who boarded and filled a plane in order to attend the Republican National Convention and “cause damage” to it.

When Barr was asked if the FBI was investigating the situation, he said he has already received multiple reports regarding the issue, and that they are trying to follow up on these as well as other reports of Antifa militants coming from other cities where the organization has had a lot of riot experience, such as Portland and Seattle.

Violent Antifa militants traveled to Kenosha

In a previous interview, Barr stated that Antifa-affiliated militants coming from outside of Wisconsin were traveling to Kenosha in order to further destabilize the already tense civil unrest in the area. Barr alleged that these militants planned to attack law enforcement officers.

Barr said that, before the Kenosha riots began, federal agents stationed in Chicago picked up information that strongly suggested that Antifa members from the city, as well as from Washington and California, were traveling to Kenosha.

This information is backed up by local law enforcement. David Beth, sheriff of Kenosha County said that, since the rioting in the county began, more than 200 people have been arrested, over half of whom came from outside of Kenosha. Furthermore, Beth said that “outside agitators” have been using social media in order to sow discord in the community. Churches and businesses alike have been receiving calls and messages intended to threaten them and to spread misinformation.

“I want the people of Kenosha to know there’s a huge amount of resources here to protect you,” said Beth, assuring the county’s residents that their safety and their property is the number one priority of the sheriff’s office.

According to Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, Barr’s Department of Justice was currently “targeting and investigating” the heads of several organizations responsible for organizing demonstrations and violent riots, as well as the people who were supporting these groups financially in order to facilitate their movement across the country.

“What we know,” said Wolf, “is that we have seen groups and individuals move from Portland to other parts of the country.”