WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said early Thursday that he plans to designate antifa as a “major terrorist organization.”
Antifa, short for “anti-fascists,” is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups and is not a singular entity. They consist of groups that resist fascists and neo-Nazis, especially at demonstrations.
It’s unclear how the administration would label what is effectively a decentralized movement as a terrorist organization, and the White House on Wednesday did not immediately offer more details.
Trump, who is on a state visit to the United Kingdom, made the announcement in a social media post shortly before 1:30 a.m. Thursday local time. He called antifa a “SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER.” He also said he will be “strongly recommending” that funders of antifa be investigated.
Antifa is a domestic entity and, as such, is not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations. Dozens of groups, including extremist organizations like the Islamic State and al-Qaida, are included on that list. The designation matters in part because it enables the Justice Department to prosecute those who give material support to entities on that list even if that support does not result in violence.
There is no domestic equivalent to that list in part because of broad First Amendment protections enjoyed by organizations operating within the United States. And despite periodic calls, particularly after mass shootings by white supremacists, to establish a domestic terrorism law, no singular statute now exists.
In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he would pursue a domestic terrorism designation for antifa if such a move had the support of Attorney General Pam Bondi and others in his Cabinet.
“It’s something I would do, yeah,” Trump said. ”I would do that 100%. Antifa is terrible.”
Related Articles
Harris says Buttigieg was her ‘first choice’ for 2024 running mate but the pairing was too risky
Judge blocks Trump administration from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children
Federal Reserve shows unexpected unity, independence as it weathers Trump’s attacks
Trump and Starmer sign a tech deal before holding private talks on tariffs and war
Kennedy’s advisory panel is expected to vote on hepatitis B and MMRV vaccines
Wednesday night, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., praised Trump’s announcement, saying: “Antifa seized upon a movement of legitimate grievances to promote violence and anarchy, working against justice for all. The President is right to recognize the destructive role of Antifa by designating them domestic terrorists.” In July 2019, Cassidy and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a resolution in the Senate to condemn the violent acts of antifa and to designate the group a domestic terror organization.
In 2020, in the midst of the George Floyd protests, Trump also raised the idea of designating antifa as a terror organization.
Trump’s previous FBI director, Christopher Wray, said in testimony that year that antifa is an ideology, not an organization, lacking the hierarchical structure that would usually allow it to be designated as a terror group by the federal government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris says she would have picked Pete Buttigieg as her running mate last year but America wasn’t ready for the pairing, according to an excerpt of her new book.
Harris writes in an excerpt of “107 Days” published Wednesday in The Atlantic that former President Joe Biden’s transportation secretary was her “first choice,” adding that he “would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man.”
“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk,” she writes.
Her thoughts on selecting a running mate come as potential 2028 contenders begin traveling the U.S. in the early days of the second Trump administration.
In the book excerpt, she writes about her love of working with Buttigieg and her friendship with him and his husband, but that the two of them on the Democratic ticket would have been too risky.
“And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness,” she writes.
Related Articles
Kimmel’s future hangs in balance after ABC suspends his late-night show over Charlie Kirk comments
Official identifies the suspect in the fatal shooting of 3 Pennsylvania police officers
Pope Leo talks Trump, sex abuse scandals, LGBTQ+ welcome and China in his first interview
How the Fed’s rate cut impacts mortgage rates
US jobless aid applications retreat to 231,000 after surging to nearly 4-year high a week earlier
It wasn’t immediately clear at what point she decided against Buttigieg, a former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and former intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves. Buttigieg emerged as a national political figure during his 2020 presidential run in which he finished atop the Iowa caucuses.
The Associated Press didn’t immediately hear back from a spokesperson for Buttigieg.
She picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate after his attack line against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance — “These guys are just weird” — spread widely. They ultimately lost.
Harris’ book, whose title is referencing the length of her condensed presidential campaign, is set to be published by Simon & Schuster on Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel’s television future hung in the balance Thursday after ABC suspended his late-night show following the host’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing, which prompted dozens of stations to say they wouldn’t air the show, a move that was cheered on by a top federal regulator.
Related Articles
Official identifies the suspect in the fatal shooting of 3 Pennsylvania police officers
Pope Leo talks Trump, sex abuse scandals, LGBTQ+ welcome and China in his first interview
How the Fed’s rate cut impacts mortgage rates
US jobless aid applications retreat to 231,000 after surging to nearly 4-year high a week earlier
Wall Street ticks toward another record as Intel and Nvidia rally
The veteran late-night comic made several remarks on Monday and Tuesday about the reaction to the conservative activist’s assassination, including saying that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”
ABC, which has aired “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” since 2003, moved swiftly after Nexstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death were “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 28 ABC affiliates.
Another company that owns 38 local television stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group, called on Kimmel to apologize to Kirk’s family and make a “meaningful personal donation” to the activist’s political organization, Turning Point USA. Sinclair says its ABC stations will air a tribute to Kirk on Friday in Kimmel’s time slot.
In an appearance on CNBC Thursday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr cheered the moves by the two affiliate groups to push back against the network. While the Federal Communications Commission does not have power over the television networks, it does have the authority to suspend the licenses of their individual stations in local markets.
“We’re reinvigorating the FCC’s enforcement of the public interest,” Carr said, “and I think that’s a good thing.”
There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026. ABC’s statement did not cite a reason for why his show was preempted.
President Donald Trump celebrated ABC’s move on the social media site Truth Social. “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” he wrote.
Carr on Wednesday called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said his agency has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation. He said the comic appeared to be making an intentional effort to mislead the public that Kirk’s assassin was a right-wing Trump supporter.
During his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel suggested that the man charged in Kirk’s killing, Tyler Robinson, might have been a pro-Trump Republican.
“The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Authorities say the 22-year-old grew up in a conservative household in southern Utah but was enmeshed in “leftist ideology.” His parents told investigators he had turned politically left and pro-LGBTQ rights in the last year. His voter status is inactive, meaning he did not vote in two regular general elections. He told his transgender partner that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”
Media gather in front of the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio on Hollywood Blvd., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
FILE – Brendan Carr listens during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2020. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via AP, File)
A memorial for Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk is seen at Utah Valley University, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Vice President JD Vance hosts an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” at the White House, following the assassination of the show’s namesake, Monday, Sept., 15, 2025, in Washington. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
1 of 4
Media gather in front of the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio on Hollywood Blvd., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
For both companies, reinstating Kimmel after a suspension would risk the ire of Trump, who has already claimed that the show has been canceled.
Kimmel’s suspension comes two months after CBS announced that it was canceling Stephen Colbert’s late-night show next May for financial reasons. But some critics have wondered if his stance on Trump played a role.
Both Colbert and Kimmel have made the president the frequent target of jokes. Soon after the Colbert cancellation, the FCC approved CBS parent company Paramount’s long-pending deal with Skydance.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump said in July. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Within the past year, both Disney and CBS parent Paramount chose to settle lawsuits brought by Trump against their news divisions rather than fight it out in court.
In a post on X, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the administration for “using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression.”
“Another media outlet withered under government pressure, ensuring that the administration will continue to extort and exact retribution on broadcasters and publishers who criticize it,” said Ari Cohn, lead counsel for technology policy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “We cannot be a country where late-night talk show hosts serve at the pleasure of the president.”
The scene outside Kimmel’s studio after show was suspended
Kimmel departed the Hollywood theater where his show is taped about three hours after ABC’s decision. He kept his head down as he entered a waiting vehicle.
An audience was lined up outside the theater when they were told Wednesday’s show was canceled.
“Interestingly enough, they waited to pull the plug on this right as the studio audience was about to walk in,” Tommy Williams, a would-be audience member from Jacksonville, Florida, told The Associated Press outside the theater. “They didn’t tell us what had happened. They just said that the show was canceled.”
More of what Kimmel said on his show
Kimmel said Trump’s response to Kirk’s death “is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
He also said that FBI chief Kash Patel has handled the investigation into the killing “like a kid who didn’t read the book, BSing his way through an oral report.”
He returned to the topic Tuesday night, mocking Vice President JD Vance’s performance as guest host for Kirk’s podcast.
He said Trump was “fanning the flames” by attacking people on the left. “Which is it? Are they a bunch of sissy pickleball players because they’re too scared to be hit by tennis balls? Or a well-organized deadly team of commandos? Because they can’t be both of those things.”
The move comes as the president, his administration and political party have stepped up their effort to police speech about Kirk’s death. Vance earlier this week urged Americans to turn in fellow citizens who mocked the assassination.
It is also the latest effort by the administration to use its power to lean on the media. Carr has launched investigations of outlets that have angered Trump, and the president has sued multiple media organizations for negative coverage.
Associated Press journalists Liam McEwan and Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
DULUTH — Despite the loss of his son to a high-speed, drunken driving crash, Jason Trowbridge told a court that he stands by the man who accepted responsibility for the crime.
Darren A. Tenney (Courtesy of St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office)
Darren Andrew Tenney is “like another son,” he wrote in a letter to a judge, and perhaps “God saved him … so he could help people prevent this in their lives and help them heal.”
“Sitting behind bars will do nothing in this case,” Jason Trowbridge said. “Continuing to help others and heal is far better time spent for all of us, including the public.”
Judge Leslie Beiers, at the conclusion of the emotional hearing, granted the request. It’s a departure from sentencing guidelines based on Tenney’s demonstrated efforts to gain sobriety, as well as the recommendations from the families and attorneys.
Tenney, 25, of Hugo, Minnesota, was ordered to serve 120 days in jail and five years of supervised probation in lieu of an eight-year prison term following his guilty plea in July to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
Apologizing for his actions, the defendant told the court that “both Madi and Joey were amazing people” and he was blown away by the “level of strength and courage” shown by the families of the young couple.
“They are truly remarkable people,” Tenney said. “In many ways, they are my heroes. I will forever be grateful for that.”
The sentencing came just over two years after the gruesome crash that took the lives of Trowbridge and Warren, both 23, who lived in Woodbury and Oakdale, respectively.
Tenney said in July he has no memory of the incident, either due to impairment or the injuries he also sustained in the collision. But he admitted the evidence collected by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office could only lead to the conclusion that he was driving.
The friends had spent the day doing some work at a cabin owned by the Trowbridge family before going out to drink in the evening hours.
According to the investigation, Tenney’s 2004 Chevrolet Silverado was split in half when it left County Road 8, just east of Floodwood, and struck a tree around 2:45 a.m.
Trowbridge was ejected through the windshield and was found in a nearby tree, while Warren was still belted in the back seat. Tenney was also partially ejected but remained pinned inside the truck from the waist down.
Deputies noted a strong odor of alcohol and found several beer cans scattered around the crash scene. A test revealed Tenney had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.117 nearly four hours later.
Defense attorney Eric Olson noted his client went to inpatient treatment immediately after he was released on bail. He also went on to complete an outpatient program, continues to voluntarily attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and has completed training to become a certified peer-recovery specialist.
Dozens of family members and supporters of Tenney, Trowbridge and Warren attended the hearing and/or submitted letters to the court on Tenney’s behalf — none seeking prison time.
Warren’s mother, Tina Cermak, called it a “tragic accident,” not an act of malice. She said she has honored her daughter with the establishment of a scholarship at her former elementary school, and she believes Tenney will be able to honor the victims’ memories in his own way.
“Darren will forever be imprisoned mentally over the loss of his two close friends,” Cermak said in a letter read in court. “I totally believe in accountability, but I also believe in redemption.”
St. Louis County prosecutor Vicky Wanta planned to ask for a prison term on one count, followed by a probationary sentence on the other count. However, after hearing the defense’s presentation, she was moved to call an “audible.”
“I think Mr. Tenney has demonstrated substantial and compelling reasons to depart in this case,” the prosecutor acknowledged.
Wanta said she has a duty to protect public safety and still feels there needs to be serious consequences for impaired driving, especially given the “tremendous loss Mr. Tenney caused the community through his actions that night.”
In trying to balance the wishes of the families, Wanta suggested Tenney serve a year at the St. Louis County Jail or Northeast Regional Corrections Center, as well as two weeks annually around the anniversary of the crash.
Judge Beiers ultimately imposed just a 120-day jail term, with no credit for time served, ordering Tenney to surrender on Monday. She also included a requirement that he complete 100 hours of community service in a recovery-focused setting each of the next five years.
The judge said she has never seen a case with so many letters attesting to the “kindness, work ethic and remorse,” of a defendant — especially the showing of such grace from the victims’ families.
“Please don’t let me see you back here for any reason,” Beiers told the defendant.
Tenney replied: “You won’t, your honor.”
Related Articles
Under St. Paul mayor’s budget, 16 police department positions would remain unfilled
Woodbury’s East Ridge High School placed on lockdown after weapons report
Ramsey County prosecutor announces Hennepin County attorney campaign
8 injured in gunfire at South Minneapolis homeless encampment, police say
Charges: St. Olaf football player fatally shot inside South St. Paul home was ‘innocent bystander’
