Tipsheet

Joe Biden Denies Antifa Organizations Exist

Former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden denied the existence of organized Antifa groups during the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday.  

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace had asked President Trump if he was willing "to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?"

"Sure, I'm willing to do that. I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing, not from the right-wing," Trump replied, telling the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by."

"But I tell you what, somebody has got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem," Trump added.

"Antifa is an idea, not an organization, that's what his FBI director said," Biden replied.

"Antifa is a dangerous, radical group...they'll overthrow you," Trump said to Biden. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray did say his agency is investigating those who identify as Antifa while committing serious crimes. 

"Antifa is a real thing. It's not a group or an organization. It's a movement, or an ideology may be one way of thinking of it and we have quite a number, and I've said this quite consistently since my first time appearing before this committee, we have any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists and some of those individuals self-identify with Antifa," Wray said. 

"People are pouring through all of the video trying to identify people to hold people accountable," Attorney General Bill Barr said during an interview with Townhall. "I think Antifa and Antifa like groups are at the center of it."