During a speech on the House floor Thursday afternoon, Democratic Congressman and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler claimed Antifa is "imaginary."
.@RepJerryNadler just said #ANTIFA was "imaginary."
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) June 25, 2020
Seriously? Tell that to the business owners whose shops were looted and destroyed. pic.twitter.com/o8IVgP9G8I
Antifa does exist and the loosely affiliated organization of anarchists has done significant damage to the country.
In a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr Friday morning, a dozen House Republicans are detailing the violent actions of the group and encouraging the Department of Justice to continue prosecutions of members who break the law.
"As you may know, ANTIFA groups have had a long history of violent protests, under which they have caused direct harm to anyone critical of their believes. For example, last summer, a photojournalist, who was a harsh critic of ANTIFA groups, was beaten by an ANTIFA mob on a public street. The photojournalist posed no physical threat to the group and was simply capturing footage during a Potland ANTIFA demonstration," the letter states. "More recently, in 2019, during an ANTIFA protest outside the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, an armed 68-year-old man attacked a police officer. The armed man placed his arms around the officer in an attempt to choose him, so that another protestor would be freed. Later, police found explosives and weapons in his bag."
"The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to speak freely and to petition the government through peaceful gatherings and protests. However, the ANTIFA protests directly undermine these freedoms, as they use terror and violence to silence the voices of opposition groups and to suppress their ability to assemble. This group continued to utilize these methods over the past week, which led to inflections of brutal injuries on law enforcement officials and villains and severe damages to infrastructure, small businesses, and historical sites," the letter continues.
Over the past few weeks, we‘ve seen violent #Antifa riot, physically assault Americans & cause millions of dollars of damage to our communities.
— Rep. Michael Waltz (@RepMichaelWaltz) June 26, 2020
Joined my colleagues to call on @TheJusticeDept to find out who's behind these groups so we can stop to this violence and destruction! pic.twitter.com/8PIOoQ7DkD
Over the past three weeks, the Department of Justice has indicted a number of violent agitators involved in riots across the country.