This issue is not as cut and dry as the claim would make it seem. While the Trump administration did label Antifa a domestic terrorist group, the legal implications of that designation remain uncertain, and due to Antifa's lack of centralized leadership or organization, attributions of violence and arson to the group are shaky.
A presidential designation and related agency guidance can shape investigative and prosecutorial priorities, but sentencing is ultimately governed by statutory law, federal sentencing guidelines, and judicial discretion. According to the law firm Morgan Lewis, the newly established National Joint Terrorism Task Force is “coordinating investigations, prosecutions, and disruption efforts focused on domestic political violence,” suggesting that more cases could be opened. There is also the potential application of the federal “terrorism enhancement,” which the U.S. Sentencing Commission defines as a 12-level increase if a felony offense “involved, or was intended to promote, a federal crime of terrorism.” Whether and how this enhancement is applied, however, will depend largely on judges’ discretion.
Assessing claims that Antifa incites violence or “burns federal buildings with people inside” is difficult. As a decentralized movement, whether “Antifa” is responsible for violence depends on which individuals and incidents are under consideration. The Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, has been set on fire several times in recent years, but clear attribution is lacking. In 2020, the courthouse caught fire while federal officers were inside. The Department of Homeland Security’s press release at the time referred only to “violent anarchists.” A year later, The Oregonian reported that new fires in the same area were linked to protests opposing an oil pipeline expansion from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin, again not mentioning Antifa specifically.
Misinformation about Antifa’s involvement in violence and arson has circulated widely. In 2020, for example, Antifa was falsely accused of starting West Coast wildfires—claims officials publicly debunked, urging people to verify information before sharing it, according to The New York Times. One of the Department of Defense's own reports later found that senior leadership had “pushed unfounded conspiracies about antifascists, encouraged staff to violate constitutional rights, and made spurious connections between protesters who engaged in criminal activity,” according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
