Bondi Won’t Say Who Is On DOJ’s New List Of Domestic Terrorists Besides ‘Antifa’

‘I Know Antifa Is Part of That’

Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly skirted attempts on Wednesday by Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) to get answers about Trump administration directives from September, which included the National Security Presidential Memorandum (NPSM-7), that cast a bunch of non-controversial ideas — “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity” — as worthy of investigation by federal law enforcement. It was interpreted, rightly, as an attempt to train the might of federal law enforcement on Trump’s political and ideological enemies.

It’s a focus of the Trump administration’s that TPM’s Josh Kovensky has been covering for months. Much of the work of Trump’s second term has fixated on cracking down on dissent and Trump’s perceived political foes, including U.S. citizens who reside in blue states and cities across the nation. The DOJ memos from last year that Scanlon elevated in her questions to Bondi today not only labeled “antifa” and non-profit or activists associated with the amorphous, leftist ideology as potentially contributing to domestic terrorism, but also directed prosecutors across the country to target people who espouse speech that suggests “extremism on migration, race, and gender.”

Josh Kovensky gets into all of this a lot more in depth in a new rolling project on TPM, focused on the Trump administration’s efforts to create an “enemy within.” But during today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing with Bondi, Scanlon attempted to get Bondi to confirm whether the Justice Department has, in fact, created some sort of list of groups that it deems domestic terrorist organizations, as outlined in the directives last year. Scanlon also asked Bondi if she’d commit to sharing that list with Congress if/when it is created (the deadline for creating such a list and reporting to President Trump and Stephen Miller with it has already passed).

“I’d remind you that when the U.S. government designates an entity as a foreign terrorist organization, it must report that to Congress and to the entity because the government can make a mistake and the entity has the opportunity to contest it,” Scanlon said. “So your position seems to be that if you falsely designate an American or an American organization as a terrorist group there’s nothing they can do about it.”

Bondi not only refused to give any specifics about the “list” — beyond declaring that “antifa” is on it — but she also would not commit to sharing that information with Congress:

Scanlon: As you know, as a lawyer, holding beliefs that the White House disagrees with is not a crime. And the statute defining domestic terrorism requires acts, not just thoughts and ideas. That’s why legal experts, non-profit leaders, religious freedom and civil rights advocates immediately raised the alarm that the new presidential directive was a politically motivated attack on civil society, designed to silence those who disagree with the administration.

So, Ms. Bondi, section three of that memo directed you, as attorney general, to submit to the president and Stephen Miller a list of groups or entities whose members are engaged in acts that meet the definition of domestic terrorism. And then on December 4, you directed the FBI to work with a variety of law enforcement entities to compile a list of groups and entities engaged in such acts. Can we assume that you or persons under your direction at the Department of Justice have prepared that list of groups or entities who are designated as domestic terrorist organizations? And I just remind you that’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question.

Bondi: Well I’m not going to answer it ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but what I will say is, I know Antifa is part of that.

Scanlon pressed Bondi again on if she would commit to sharing such a list with Congress. Bondi responded saying, “We will comply with the law in all matters,” and later adding, “I’m not going to commit to anything with you because you won’t let me answer questions.”

While Bondi refused to engage with the congresswoman’s line of questioning, Scanlon did seize on the moment to outline, in clear terms, what exactly the Trump administration appears to be doing with this specific layer of its crackdown on dissent: silencing the opposition.

“The administration is keeping lists of Americans who the White House says are engaged in domestic terrorism. Those lists could include Americans who have not committed any acts of terrorism, but simply disagree with this administration — people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” she said. “… Americans have never tolerated political demagogues who use the government to punish people on an enemies list.”

— Nicole LaFond

Bovino Praised ICE Agent Who Shot Chicago Woman

Lawyers for Marimar Martinez — a teacher in Chicago who was shot five times by an ICE agent in October, dubbed a “domestic terrorist” by a Trump administration press release, and charged with assaulting or impeding a federal officer before the government reversed course and moved to dismiss the case against her — have been pushing to get the government to correct the record since her case was dropped. In court last week, Department of Homeland Security lawyers refused to change their stance on Martinez, standing by their press releases and statements put out in the aftermath of the shooting, which labeled Martinez a domestic terrorist and alleged she rammed ICE agents with her vehicle, along with nine other cars that never existed. She has rejected the government’s account and said that the agents were the aggressors. The agent who shot her did not have his body camera on during the encounter, but other footage from the scene and testimony from the agent involved helped dispel the government’s narrative.

A federal judge ruled on Friday that additional evidence from the case could be released publicly, including additional text messages and emails that the agent who shot her, Charles Exum, sent and received in the aftermath of the incident. Some texts that Exum sent after the shooting have already been made public. In one, he brags about how many times he shot Martinez. In line with the Friday order, more of Exum’s communications were released Tuesday. They shed light on how Exum was praised by Trump administration officials in the hours after the incident. One particularly troubling exchange, per NBC News:

In one email hours after the shooting of Martinez, Bovino, the former commander-at-large of Border Patrol who has since been removed from the post and returned to his station in El Centro, California, wrote to Exum, “I’d like to extend an offer for you to extend your retirement beyond age 57. … In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!”

— Nicole LaFond

Top House Appropriations Dem Introduces Bill to Fund DHS Without ICE, CBP

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced a bill on Wednesday to fully fund every agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) except Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot be abolished, but I will not provide a single dime of funding until we see radical changes in how it operates,” DeLauro said in a statement. “If Republican leadership blocks this legislation from moving forward, they are responsible for any shuttered agencies, furloughed workers, missed paychecks, or reduced services.”

DeLauro’s bill would make sure a potential, impending DHS-specific partial shutdown would only include a funding lapse for ICE and CBP and not impact departments like TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard. That funding lapse however would largely be symbolic as ICE and CBP already have a separate pool of funding they can draw on that was allocated by 2025’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

Congress has until Feb. 13 to find a way to fund DHS or face a partial shutdown. A shutdown has been looking more and more likely as the (barely existing) negotiations between the Trump White House/Republicans and congressional Democrats have seemingly reached a stalemate. Most Democrats say unless they see more meaningful negotiations around the ICE reforms they have pushed, they would not vote to pass another CR. Some may be open to DeLauro’s solution as they have been discussing the possibility of breaking out parts of the DHS bill and funding them while negotiations on ICE and CBP continue.

— Emine Yücel

In Case You Missed It

The latest in Josh Kovensky’s coverage of the Trump administration’s efforts to treat dissent as terrorism: Feds Cast About for an ‘Antifa’ That Encompasses All Trump Opponents

TPM Cafe: DHS Was Built to Come After People Like Me. Now, They Are After All of Us.

New from Layla A. Jones: January Jobs Report Shows Trump Is Failing On Campaign Promises to Blue Collar Workers

Morning Memo: This Is What an Out-of-Control DOJ Looks Like

Josh Marshall: Thinking Clearly About the Global Authoritarian Movement 

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