[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 126 (Thursday, July 25, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H7386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     A TOPIC THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a former FBI 
supervisory special agent and Federal prosecutor and as a strong 
advocate for civility to speak on a topic that must be addressed.
  In our country, political discourse has disintegrated to a degree 
that is completely unacceptable. Political opponents label each other 
as enemies, and differences of opinion are met with slander and, 
oftentimes, with violence.
  I have never remained silent on this issue. When White supremacists 
murdered a 32-year-old protestor in Charlottesville, Virginia, I 
expressed my outrage. When violent clashes erupted in Berkeley, 
California, in 2017, I also spoke out.
  Recently, in Portland Oregon, a journalist was assaulted by Members 
of the militant antifa movement. This journalist was covering an 
ongoing protest and suffered a brain hemorrhage, requiring overnight 
hospitalization.

                              {time}  1045

  Mr. Speaker, violence and hatred by any actor on any level is 
completely unacceptable. What is deeply troubling is antifa's history 
of provoking and stoking political violence, along with encouraging 
civil unrest, to dissuade those who do not share their beliefs from 
exercising their First Amendment rights.
  In addition to the incident in Portland, antifa has tried to insight 
riots in Washington, D.C., following President Trump's inauguration, 
and several antifa members in Philadelphia, right outside of my 
district, were arrested following an assault on Marine reservists. The 
charges they face include aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation, and 
conspiracy, among others.
  Antifa has no desire to protest peacefully, no desire to learn from 
other people's experiences, and no desire to be receptive to fair and 
rational ideas outside of their own. They resort to violence and eschew 
peaceful demonstration at every turn.
  I recently sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr, demanding the 
Department of Justice initiate proceedings to designate antifa as a 
domestic terrorist organization to protect the welfare of journalists 
and also the general public. I have asked my former colleagues at the 
FBI to do the same.
  Political violence has no place in our society. In my career in law 
enforcement, I have seen firsthand how violence erodes civil society. 
We must not give a pass to any organization that perpetuates a vicious 
cycle of hatred and ignorance.
  Antifa must be designated as the domestic terrorist organization that 
it is.

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