Bondi Orders FBI Extremism Intelligence Review with Antifa Focus

Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the FBI to undergo an exhaustive analysis of domestic terrorism intelligence—focusing primarily on antifa—in a memo implementing Trump’s response to the Charlie Kirk assassination.

In instructions Thursday, Bondi called on the FBI, along with state and local law enforcement partners, to compile a list of groups “engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism” and submit a report that includes disruption strategies within 30 days.

Bondi’s directives were included in an eight-page memo that was obtained by Bloomberg Law. It was issued pursuant to President Donald Trump’s Sept. 25 policy on “organized political violence.”

Bondi told all law enforcement agencies to assess old files with any connection to antifa and send them to the FBI to potentially reopen closed investigations.

The FBI and its partners were also directed to review and refer for prosecution when appropriate any possible acts of domestic terrorism from the past five years, including doxing of law enforcement,impeding Department of Homeland Security employees, and targeting of Supreme Court justices at their homes.

Consistent with past statements by Trump and his allies since Kirk was murdered, Bondi framed the rising domestic terrorism problem as a problem of anti-government extremists and others with anti-American views associated with the left.

She ignored evidence from a study for DOJ, which was deleted from the department’s website in September, showing far-right attacks, such as from white supremacists, outpace all other forms of domestic violence.

Instead, Bondi associated domestic terrorism with people who engage in civil disorder, are anti-Christian, or “hold extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders.”

Short for anti-fascist, antifa refers to an amorphous collection of people encompassing a range of ideologies concentrated on the left—without a formal organizational structure.

A veteran domestic terrorism prosecution expert who reviewed Bondi’s memo called it poorly designed. The expert predicted it would have unintended consequences once the FBI collects information establishing massive levels of violent right-wing rhetoric, including from people empowered during Trump’s prior presidential term.

If the FBI and DOJ don’t act on domestic terrorism intelligence that reflects poorly on President Trump’s base, then state and local law enforcement agencies will have no issue “throwing the Bureau under the bus for lack of action,” added the domestic terrorism expert, who spoke anonymously out of fear of retribution.