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Good to see the paper of record highlighting this important national news story that we’ve been covering at @theintercept for the past eight months.
Going to provide some links and info for those who might be interested in reading more on the topic. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/us/politics/trump-right-wing-domestic-terrorism.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Going to provide some links and info for those who might be interested in reading more on the topic. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/us/politics/trump-right-wing-domestic-terrorism.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
In June, a trove of hacked law enforcement documents was posted online. I went through hundreds of those files to look at how law enforcement was treating antifa/anarchists vs groups on the far right.
Part of the reason I did this was because we had already published reporting showing that the NYPD was using a curfew in response to the George Floyd protests to hand over demonstrators to the FBI for questioning. Antifa was a subject of the interviews.
You can find that original reporting here: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/04/fbi-nypd-political-spying-antifa-protests/
And in more depth here: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/28/new-york-city-curfew-nypd-protests/
And in more depth here: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/28/new-york-city-curfew-nypd-protests/
As expected, the analysis of the docs posted online showed extensive law enforcement emphasis on antifa/anarchists even amid detailed evidence of threats and action from far right groups, including the murder of law enforcement officials. https://theintercept.com/2020/07/15/george-floyd-protests-police-far-right-antifa/
As noted here, the feds’ obsession with leftists under Trump would come as no surprise to anyone who was watching the DHS response to migrant caravans in 2018. https://theintercept.com/2020/07/25/portland-federal-agents-antifa-border/
As we reported at time, DHS engaged in a sweeping binational intelligence gathering operation targeting journalists, lawyers and asylum advocates associated with the caravans that in some cases barred individuals from crossing international boundaries. https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/us-mexico-border-journalists-harassment/
Documents leaked to NBC San Diego later showed that individuals swept up in the program were included on a blacklist where “suspected antifa” was among the labels used to describe blacklisted targets. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/photos-leaked-documents-to-nbc-7-investigates-11-3/126760/
The FBI and ICE also used the “anarchist extremist” label to deport this antifascist activist. https://theintercept.com/2019/11/02/deportation-occupy-ice-daca/
And allegations of some sort of border-wide anarchist conspiracy were key to the Justice Department’s failed attempts to imprison this border-based humanitarian aid provider. https://theintercept.com/2019/11/23/scott-warren-verdict-immigration-border/
As @jasonintrator and @jeanguerre noted here, what we saw with the Trump administration in 2020 was a turn inward in which the fear-mongering that had been focused on the border was directed at cities like Portland, just in time for the election. https://theintercept.com/2020/10/03/trump-immigration-antifa-fascism/
It’s been clear since at least September that the top two officials at DHS played key roles in this politicization of their department, as noted here. https://theintercept.com/2020/09/12/homeland-security-whistleblower-corruption/
The NYT reports that “the scale and intensity of the threat developing on the right became stunningly clear on Jan. 6.”
Yes and no, the siege was jarring but it was preceded by years of rising violence. Case in point: El Paso. https://theintercept.com/2019/08/07/el-paso-border-war-terror/
Yes and no, the siege was jarring but it was preceded by years of rising violence. Case in point: El Paso. https://theintercept.com/2019/08/07/el-paso-border-war-terror/
Many journalists have done vital work covering the human cost of this historic moment. Take the work of @aaron_con_choco here for example. https://theintercept.com/2020/10/30/federal-prosecutors-protests-pretrial-detention/
My colleagues @aliceperi and @natashalennard have written about this topic again and again.
See here: https://theintercept.com/2021/01/14/capitol-riot-fbi-federal-charges/
And here: https://theintercept.com/2020/09/22/anarchist-jurisdictions-portland-new-york-seattle/
See here: https://theintercept.com/2021/01/14/capitol-riot-fbi-federal-charges/
And here: https://theintercept.com/2020/09/22/anarchist-jurisdictions-portland-new-york-seattle/
Point is, there’s a lot more to this story and hopefully more newsrooms will see fit to give it the attention it deserves.
