President Donald Trump has announced that he intends to designate Antifa as a foreign terrorist organization, escalating his administration’s response to what he described as an international network of far-left extremists responsible for violence in U.S. cities and political attacks.
While answering questions from the press pool, one reporter asked whether Trump would take the step of labeling Antifa a foreign terror group — a move beyond its current classification as a domestic extremist organization.
“Well, has that been done? Pretty close, right? Would you like to see it done?” Trump asked the room. Posobiec quickly replied, “Yes, Mr. President.”
Trump then turned to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was present at the meeting, and said, “We’ll take care of it.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller added, “Yes, it’s true. There are extensive foreign ties, and I think that would be a very valid step to take.”
According to administration officials, the proposed designation would focus on Antifa’s financial and operational links to groups in Western Europe and the Middle East — ties that U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly been monitoring for months.
Trump’s remarks came as his administration continues to face widespread protests against recent immigration enforcement operations and National Guard deployments in cities like Chicago and Portland.
Officials say those same cities have seen recurring Antifa activity, particularly around Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.
During the meeting, Trump invited Posobiec and Sortor to share their firsthand experiences reporting from Antifa demonstrations. Sortor — who was arrested in Portland last week while covering an anti-ICE protest — presented the president with an American flag he said he rescued from demonstrators attempting to burn it.
“Give that to Attorney General [Pam] Bondi,” Trump said after Sortor told him he could identify the individual who set the flag on fire. “Start prosecutions.”
Posobiec warned that the movement’s radicalization has intensified and cited a growing list of politically motivated attacks: “When you look at people like Luigi Mangione in his twenties, Thomas Matthew Crooks, of course, who took a shot at you, sir, the ICE shooter in Dallas, and now this Tyler Robinson — we’re starting to see a pattern of more and more murderous violence.”
Trump nodded as Posobiec spoke, calling the recent wave of violence “disgusting” and “a threat to the country.”
Posobiec, who has spent the past month assisting Turning Point USA and the Kirk family, said the organization is continuing its nationwide campus tour despite ongoing threats.
“Turning Point USA is continuing the tour that Charlie was on,” he told Trump. “We had 6,000 people when we went back to Utah. We had 5,000 people last night in Montana. We are continuing to organize on campus.”
He added that supporters were “showing incredible courage in the face of this threat,” but warned that those gathered in the room could become the next targets.
“Mr. President, we need to do something about this,” Posobiec said. “Because I fear that the next one who could be killed could be sitting at this table right now. We’re not going to stop, but they need to be stopped — and they will not stop until they are stopped.”
Trump responded by promising swift federal action. “We’re not going to let this happen again,” he said. “Antifa will be dealt with.”
If implemented, the designation would mark the first time the United States formally identified a domestic-based organization as a foreign terrorist entity — a move that would enable international sanctions, asset freezes, and cross-border investigations.
Supporters of the move argue that Antifa’s coordination with overseas anarchist groups justifies such treatment, while critics say it risks blurring legal lines between domestic dissent and foreign-sponsored terrorism.
For Trump, however, the message was clear: “They’ve declared war on America,” he said. “Now we’re declaring it back.”
