Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Breitbart News Tonight Thursday evening that the FBI should classify Antifa as a “domestic terror group.” He offered his remarks in an interview with SiriusXM hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.

Kerik’s comments were made during a discussion of left-wing activists threatening and intimidating Tucker Carlson’s family on Wednesday night outside of the Carlson family’s home in Washington, D.C.

Kerik said, “In the most minimal definition of terrorism, it’s the unlawful use of violence and intimidation — especially against civilians — in pursuit of political aims. Antifa is a domestic terror group. I strongly believe that the FBI and the Department of Justice should classify them as such.”

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Kerik recalled, “Back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, we had to deal with the Weather Underground, the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, the Sam Melville–Jonathan Jackson Unit. There were a number of these anti-American leftist communist socialist groups that were doing exactly what Antfa is doing today, and those groups were doing more, which is what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid this will escalate to much more severe violence. Back then, there were bombings [and] assassinations of police officers. It really got out of hand until the FBI classified these groups as domestic terror groups and started to go after them as such.”

Kerik stated, “I think the cities they operate in have to create local ordinances and laws that prevent them from being and remaining anonymous. They have a lot of courage when they have these masks on and nobody can see who they are or identify them. They wouldn’t be standing out there if they didn’t have the ability to remain anonymous.”

Kerik remarked, “I think the FBI and the Department of Justice should lock them up. Lock them up for violating people’s civil rights. … They are trying to intimidate, harass, and threaten [Tucker Carlson] in an attempt to prevent him from doing his job as a member of the press.”

Kerik called for investigating Antifa’s funding and management.

“If they’re investigated, you’re going to get to the financial root of this group,” said Kerik. “I’d love to see who’s paying these nitwits to stand out there in the middle of the night and yell and scream with a bullhorn. They’re not doing it for nothing. They’re not doing it because they just have nothing better to do and they all gathered in free spirit to stand around and act like idiots, and threaten people and scare the hell out of them. … They’re doing it because they were paid.”

Kerik continued, “If the FBI and [Justice Department] got into [Antifa’s] background, started locking them up [and] interviewing them, somebody’s going to flip, and somebody’s going to tell you where they come from, where the money’s coming from, who’s funding the operation, who’s telling them to go out and do these acts of violence, threats, and intimidation. … If you look at the intelligence monitors and the people that capture the images of these people, many of them are the same people, which tells me that they’re being bused [and] transferred. They’re being paid. Somebody’s paying for this.”

Kerik remarked, “If you listen to that tape [and] what went on last night at Tucker Carlson’s house; there were threats, there was intimidation, and it was for political reasons. That falls under the basic definition of terrorism. … They’re breaking the law. Lock them up. Stop them from doing what they’re doing. … This stuff is a crime. Engage them for criminal conduct and get them off the streets. If you do it aggressively, I promise you they will stop.”

Mansour noted Antifa’s rioting in Washington, DC, during President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January of 2017.

Kerik warned, “If somebody doesn’t stop this. It’s only going to get worse. It will progress. You have to stop it. You can’t let this conduct and behavior continue, because if they think they can get away with it, it’s going to get worse. They’re going to step up the violence. It’s got to be addressed now.”

Pollak noted the justification for Antifa’s conduct from Vox’s co-founder Matt Yglesias. Yglesias subsequently deleted all tweets on his Twitter profile after describing Antifa’s harassment of Carlson’s family as “[making] them feel some of the fear that the victims of MAGA-inspired violence feel thanks to the non-stop racial incitement coming from Tucker, Trump, etc.” He further advised people to “empathize with” Carlson’s “victims.”

CNN figures have repeatedly supported, defended, and misrepresented Antifa, including anchors Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo. A 2017 CNN report claimed Antifa leftists “seek peace through violence,” subsequently scrubbing the claim in its headline.

Kerik concluded, “The thing that frightens me more than these groups doing this is the deafening silence of the senior Democratic leaders in this country. Everybody should be outraged. Every political figure in this country should be outraged by this behavior. Everybody should be calling for it to stop [and] doing whatever they can to make it stop. Yet on the left, on the Democratic side, you have a deafening silence. Nobody is doing a damn thing to stop this. … There are people in government that don’t have a problem with this.”

Breitbart News Tonight broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 weeknights from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific.

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