Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Tuesday that violent protests at the University of California, Berkeley, are now part of a federal terrorism investigation into antifa-linked groups.
“Antifa is an existential threat to our nation,” Bondi wrote in an X post, hailing President Donald Trump’s declaring antifa a domestic terror organization. “The violent riots at UC Berkeley last night are under full investigation by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“We will continue to spare no expense unmasking all who commit and orchestrate acts of political violence.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, and pursuant to his Executive Order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, the Department of Justice and our law-enforcement partners are dismantling violent networks that seek to intimidate Americans and suppress their free expression and First Amendment rights.”
Bondi’s statement came as the Department of Justice confirmed it had launched a formal investigation into Monday night’s protests outside a Turning Point USA event on the Berkeley campus.
The rally turned chaotic as hundreds of demonstrators clashed with attendees at the conservative group’s event, which featured comedian Rob Schneider and Christian author Frank Turek, who was with the assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk in his final moments.
“I’m never going to forget Charlie’s eyes looking back past me in the car,” Turek said at the event. “It was a life-changing event.”
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, will probe “antifa’s ability to operate with impunity in California.”
“We saw all of this at Berkeley back in 2017,” Dhillon wrote Tuesday on X. “@UCBerkeley was sued, and settled the case. The @CivilRights will investigate what happened here, and I see several issues of serious concern regarding campus and local security and Antifa’s ability to operate with impunity in CA.”
University officials claimed a “single violent incident” led to two arrests by city police and two additional nonviolent arrests by campus officers, The New York Times reported.
That claim was contradicted by video evidence shared on X by conservative independent journalist Nick Sortor, who covers antifa-linked groups.
“?? BREAKING: Antifa has turned Turning Point’s event at UC Berkeley in California into an absolute WARZONE,” Sortor wrote in an X post shared by Dhillon.
“Munitions are being lit on fire by Antifa while attendees are rushed into the venue.”
Despite the unrest, the event proceeded “safely, successfully and without disruption,” UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said, downplaying the latest episode of campus unrest at the historically liberal institution long known for its political activism since the 1960s.
The Daily Californian, the UC Berkeley student newspaper, reported a total of nine arrests.
The protest, which may have included antifa-aligned agitators, was organized by leftist groups Jewish Voice for Peace, Students Organizing for Liberation, and Cal Young Democratic Socialists of America, according to the student paper.
Notably, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is a leader of the democratic socialist movement, showing the growing coast-to-coast movement.
The agitators’ messaging echoed 2020-era anti-police activism as campus security officers struggled to maintain peace.
“Protesters directed chants at them, such as ‘UCPD, KKK, IOF they’re all the same’ and ‘no justice, no peace, f**k these racist a** police,'” according to The Daily Californian.
California College Republicans Chair Miguel Muñiz denounced the agitators, saying they protested under the guise of anti-fascism while employing fascist tactics.
“These aren’t people who want to kill fascism,” Muñiz told The Daily Californian. “These are vermin that want to spread as much negativity as possible and they want people to get hurt.
“That’s not an unwanted consequence of their action. It’s the best case result for them. They want people to get hurt.”
The university said it is cooperating with federal investigators and the FBI to “identify the outside agitators responsible for attempting to disrupt” the event, emphasizing it “will take all appropriate steps to safeguard the right of every member of our community to speak and assemble freely.”
Dhillon’s remarks and Bondi’s investigation under the Justice Department authority to conduct a terrorism designation investigation underscore an escalating federal focus on antifa and related groups accused of using violence to suppress conservative speech on campuses nationwide.
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