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Less than 50 days before the presidential election, the FBI expressed concern about the increase in violent clashes between rival political groups in the United States. Federal Police Director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing in Washington that his agency was concerned about growing tensions in the streets and groups “hijacking” protests to incite violence.
There is a new level of “flammable” violence, Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee. Groups of opposing political sides join the “threat to the situation.” The FBI is closely monitoring the situation.
In recent months there have been repeated clashes between right-wing activists and anti-racist protesters in the United States. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, two people were shot and killed on the sidelines of the August protests. A 17-year-old white male with ties to conservative groups, who is also said to have attended a Trump election campaign event, was arrested as a suspect.
Later in August, on the sidelines of an anti-racism rally in Portland, Oregon, a white supporter of the far-right Patriot Prayer was shot and killed. Police shot and killed the suspect. According to US media reports, he is said to have been a 48-year-old supporter of the left-wing antifa movement.
The nationwide anti-racism protests were sparked by the death of African American George Floyd in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis in late May and have since been fueled by new instances of police violence against blacks. The protests are mostly peaceful, but there have been repeated violent clashes.
FBI says campaign aimed at “vilifying” Biden
President Trump blames extremist left “anarchists” for the violence on the sidelines of the protests. In his campaign for the November 3 election, Trump stands out as the “Law & Order” candidate.
Critics accuse him of inciting violence with numerous thinly veiled statements. Trump described on Twitter a group of his supporters, some of whom had deliberately provoked the other side in Portland, as “great patriots.”
Again and again the question about Antifa
“We are seeing very, very active efforts by the Russians to influence our 2020 elections,” he said. They also tried to sow “division and discord.” According to the US secret services, this was also an approach carried out by the campaigns carried out by Russia before the 2016 presidential elections. Meanwhile, unlike then, no direct attacks on the electoral infrastructure have been detected, he said the director of the FBI. The Russian government had always denied the accusations.
Members of the House Homeland Security Committee also intensively questioned Wray about the so-called antifa movement, which Trump portrays in his election campaign as a central danger and driving force behind unrest in American cities.
The FBI chief indirectly contradicts the president
Republicans asked their questions to confirm this assessment, Democrats questioned them. Wray said that from the FBI’s point of view, Antifa was more of a movement than an organization, indirectly contradicting the president’s representations.
At the same time, however, he also emphasized that the Federal Police were investigating suspicions of extremism against people identified with Antifa.
