The Treasury Department has compiled “a long record” of data about the financing of violent left-wing organizations since the assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent revealed Tuesday.
President Donald Trump declared Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in a Sept. 17 post on Truth Social, a week after Kirk was assassinated during a TPUSA “Prove Me Wrong” event at Utah Valley University. “The Charlie Kirk Show” co-hosts Blake Neff and Andrew Kolvet asked Bessent about the progress after playing a clip of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller relating Kirk’s concerns about violent leftists. (RELATED: ‘That’s Assassination Prep Language!’: Journalist Shuts Down Dem Rep On CNN Over Rhetoric)
“After 9/11, Treasury became the driving force behind tracking down the networks of terrorist organizations, how they were financed, how could this have happened on U.S. soil with these international terrorist organizations, where did the money come from, who were the ultimate funders, and that was on the international side, and Andrew, I will tell you that Charlie’s death is like a domestic 9/11,” Bessent said.
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“It has alerted us to what Charlie knew, that these organizations are working within our borders, and we believe people have a right to free speech, they have a right to organize, they have a right to protest, but they have to do it peacefully,” Bessent continued. “They can not embrace violence, and we have seen it, we’ve seen it since that terrible day, two years ago, the antisemitism and the bias that came out after Oct. 7, 2023 and many of these organizations have been financed by non-profits and it’s going to stop and we are going to, as I always say, follow the money.”
Antifa was involved in the violent riots in the wake of the May 2020 death of George Floyd and in January 2021 riots in Portland, Oregon. Members of the group also attacked and beat journalist Andy Ngo in Portland in June 2019.
“When you see these groups, where all the signs match, they have hundreds of the same umbrellas that are using after they cause the mayhem, they have the same lasers that they’re using to blind our police force, how are they constructed? Because this takes a lot of money, it takes a lot of organization and we are going to do that,” Bessent said.
“We have started to compile this, put together networks and there’s a long record here and we we don’t know how much of the support’s coming in overseas,” Bessent continued. “We don’t know how much being supported by U.S. nonprofits, [510(c)3s] that give money to [501(c)4s], but this is mission critical for us now, just as after 9/11 and Osama bin Laden, the ultimate culprit was captured.”
“We are operationalizing this here at Treasury and we are going to track down who is responsible for this,” Bessent said. “So Charlie’s death has set this off and we’re determined, we’re determined not only to honor him, but to keep our country safe and to ensure freedom of speech on both sides.”
Multiple commentators on corporate media outlets and Democrats denied that Antifa exists as an organization. (RELATED: GOP Rep Says Ilhan Omar, Gavin Newsom Comments Will Inspire ‘Radical Crazies’)
New talking point directive just issued #AntifaDoesntExist pic.twitter.com/1BbAe8ql0q
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 10, 2025
“There’s no Antifa. This is an entirely imaginary organization. There is not an Antifa,” ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel claimed, while former “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd said, “Like, I don’t even know what Antifa is. There is no group.”
“It’s not like the Proud Boys, or the Oath Keepers. You know, sort of defined terrorist organizations with leadership that lead — that, you know, leads violence,” CNN analyst Julliette Kayyam said, while Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York claimed, “There is no Antifa organization. So, maybe that’s good for social media, but it really has — is non-existent.”
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