The FBI’s progress in obtaining intelligence on Antifa and tracing its financial networks has been boosted after the organization was labelled a domestic terror group, according to the agency’s director, Kash Patel.
“We are following the money and mapping out this entire network,” Patel told The Epoch Times’ senior editor Jan Jekielek.
“I think [at] the turn of the new year, you’re going to see some very righteous prosecutions and investigations being publicized,” Patel said in the exclusive interview premiering at 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 29.
Patel called the designation a “brilliant move” by President Donald Trump that gives the FBI tools similar to those available under a foreign terrorist designation.
In an executive order issued on Sept. 22, Trump designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, attributing political violence to the group. The order described Antifa as a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”
“It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals,” the order stated.
The designation enabled enhanced intelligence capabilities, making it easier for the FBI to connect the dots across networks. These capabilities also enable federal investigators to work with the Treasury Department and leverage the banking sector to trace Antifa’s financial ties, Patel said.
Patel noted ongoing investigations and prosecutions related to Antifa’s actions in Portland, stating, “We’re treating them as a terrorist organization and mapping out their financial activities.”
Patel said that Antifa was responsible for the Prairieland attack outside a Texas immigration detention center this July. During this incident, an Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck and later discharged from the hospital.
Authorities have charged at least a dozen individuals involved in the shooting outside the Texas ICE detention center with terrorism-related offenses.
Federal prosecutors in Texas subsequently charged six more individuals with terrorism-related offenses for allegedly supporting Antifa, while six other defendants are expected to enter guilty pleas. Other charges include rioting, attempted murder, and weapons and explosives charges.
Prosecutors stated that the group threw fireworks at the facility, damaged vehicles, and fired upon responding police and correctional officers.
Trump recently also designated several overseas Antifa groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
The State Department issued a release this month designating German-based Antifa Ost, along with three other Antifa groups in Italy and Greece, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and intends to designate all four groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, effective Nov. 20.
“Groups affiliated with this movement ascribe to revolutionary anarchist or Marxist ideologies, including anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity, using these to incite and justify violent assaults domestically and overseas,” the release stated.
