As a wave of riots batter American cities — resulting in the arrest of thousands for looting, vandalism and violence — and with officials citing among the groups behind the riots Antifa, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released a video that appears to show an undercover journalist infiltrating the far-left violence-embracing group. In the video, organizers from an Antifa group discuss behind closed doors violent tactics, like eye-gouging, and instruct members to focus on “destroying your enemy.”
On Thursday, Attorney General William Barr specifically cited Antifa as one of the extremist groups federal law enforcement officials have evidence were “involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity” in riot-torn cities over the last few days. “We have evidence that Antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity,” said Barr. “We are also seeing foreign actors playing all sides to exacerbate the violence.”
In a video and report published the same day, Project Veritas revealed its latest undercover operation, an operation which appears to have begun at least a year ago. A journalist with Project Veritas “infiltrated” an Antifa group, which he identifies as Rose City Antifa, and filmed some of its secretive members-only meetings.
“They do not hesitate to either push back or incite some kind of violence,” said the undercover journalist. “In our classes and in our meetings, before we do any sort of demonstration or Black Bloc [a tactic for concealing identity], we talk about weapons detail and what we carry and what we should have.” The journalist also stressed how organized the group is, describing it as more like a “company” or “business” than a local activist group, and suggested it is benefiting from “some type of outside funding, influence or resources.”
Among the comments made by alleged Antifa leaders caught on tape and featured in the video are:
- “Practice things like an eye gouge, it takes very little pressure to injure someone’s eyes.”
- “Consider like destroying your enemy. not like delivering a really awesome right hand, right eye, left eye blow, you know. It’s not boxing, it’s not kickboxing, it’s like destroying your enemy.”
- “The whole goal of this, right, is to get out there and do dangerous things as safely as possible.”
- “Don’t be the guy with the godd*m spike brass knuckles getting photos taking of you… Police are going to be like: ‘Perfect, we can prosecute these [Antifa] f**kers, look how violent they are.’ And not that we [Antifa] aren’t, but we need to f**king hide that sh*t.”
In his comments Thursday about the “evidence” of violent instigators obtained by federal law enforcement, Attorney General Barr made a point of drawing a clear “distinction” among “three different sets of actors”: those there to protest peacefully, those who “exploit the opportunity to engage in looting,” and “extremist agitators who are hijacking the protests to pursue their own separate and violent agenda.” Reports have suggested that these “extremist agitators” come from both the far-left and far-right, but Barr specifically cited Antifa Thursday as one the primary agents of violence.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.