America's Talking - Trump administration to designate Antifa a foreign terror organization

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

(The Center Square) – During a round table discussion with independent journalists at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump said his administration would designate Antifa a foreign terror organization. The Center Square asked the president if he would designate Antifa, which he designated a domestic terror group last month, a foreign terror organization (FTO). Trump appeared to be under the impression that it was already an FTO.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxRead more: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_03638cc7-fd2b-478d-9389-a11488e86680.html Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to America's Talking, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, executive editor at the Center Square Newswire Service. The violent political organization Antifa was the subject of a roundtable discussion hosted this week by President Donald Trump, who invited journalists from Antifa hotspots to discuss what they have encountered. In response to her question, Trump told the Center Square Washington, D.C. Bureau chief, Sarah Roderick Fitch, that he would be declaring Antifa a foreign terror organization. joining me to discuss this is Sarah herself who covered the Roundtable Live. Sarah, I know other big news was broken in the middle of that discussion, but let's start with Antifa. What are your takeaways?

Yeah, it was a very interesting event. He had all sorts of different journalists, mostly from, that have been covering Seattle and Portland primarily. And one of the issues was, is that he, I think it was important to have the media in there and to sort of spotlight. It was, it was interesting with journalists, covering journalists, really. That was sort of a unique situation in itself. But what it was was really kind of about educating the public other journalists. It kind of turned into that about Antifa and there's experiences and what they have gone through and the violence that has been committed against a lot of these journalists. And it was sort of the same story is that, you know,

these people went there, you know, initially they would go there to report on it. Some of them went undercover, and then they were found out, and it turned ugly. Many of them had been physically assaulted. Andy No, for example, he nearly died. He had brain bleed. He's actually had to leave Portland because of it. I mean, he's so, he is so hated and has had so many different death threats and everything like that, that he's actually kind of almost had to go into hiding because of it.

So really it was about, it was showing, he was trying to show the media because some of the media, some of the mainstream media have kind of said, okay, well, Antifa doesn't exist. It's not really real. It's sort of, there's not really a problem there. And it's true. So it's a decentralized, decentralized organization. However, on the West Coast, especially in Portland, Seattle, it is much more organized. Rose City group there, their Antifa group is actually very, is pretty well organized and one. known. So it was really, it was about that. It was really just kind of opening, trying to open up their eyes to saying, hey, this is, you know, these are people just like you and me who are, who are, well, not the president, but to me, to the, the journalist like myself, these are, this is what's happened to them. They've been on the front lines. This is their story. And it's, and it's, it exists, it's real. And this is what's happening. And this is kind of, and kind of also showing the president, really, I think he wanted to show justifications. I'm saying, this is why they, were designated a domestic terror organization. And also he had, in addition, he had

Attorney General Pambani there, Christy Noam, the Homeland Security Secretary, and as well as Cash Patel. They were there to sort of, you know, talk about, hey, what they were doing to, as they say, sort of decapitate the organization or try to go after the organization. One of the big things is the money trail because they are being, they are being supplied as the president said these people are they're getting nice posters. There's, there's bricks, there's rocks, there's all sorts of different things. There's definitely some organization going on there. So, you know, he's, they're just trying to show, hey, this is what we're doing, this is what we're dealing with, and it's real. And that message kept getting repeated over and over again,

not only from the administration, but also the journalists themselves. As you just said, Sarah, President Trump did designate Antifa a domestic terror organization. That was after you asked the president that question specifically in the Oval Office a few weeks ago. Then on Wednesday he held this roundtable on Antifa. And you asked, would he declare it a foreign terrorist organization? Because it does operate in Europe and elsewhere. And he said, essentially he said he would after asking his cabinet members who were also in the room there. But there was a big piece of news that broke in the middle of that around.

And you were there to see history. Secretary of State Marco Rubio got up, handed the president a note, a handwritten note in the middle of that. And tell us about that experience. Yes, it was, I'm trying to think where it was through the whole process, because we were on there for almost two hours. From the back, I saw the Secretary of State Marco Rubio coming into the room. And when you see someone like him coming into the room in the middle of a roundtable, you know that, okay, there's something to this because he wasn't scheduled to be there. And yeah, he came and sat down, very quiet. He spoke to Caroline Levitt for briefly.

And then, yeah, he wrote down a note and passed the president and kind of whispered in his ear. And president, we were all as journalists, we knew something big was up. And we were and we were reporting it right then and there. But yes, it was about the Middle East at that time. He had said, they're close to a deal. And the president said, okay, I will have to cut the short. Like I said, about two hours, cut his short. to go back in there. And it was, that was sort of getting the ball rolling and finalizing this.

And it was a very... He's deal with Israel and Israel and Hamas. Yes. The peace deal between Israel and Hamas. And it was very interesting being there in that, we were in the state dining room. And 10 days prior to that, the president hosted a joint news conference with Prime Minister, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to unveil the 20-point peace plan, that the two had, and also Arab states and European, some other European countries, had come up with and agreed to, to present to Hamas. So it was really interesting to be in that room as it sort of became full circle.

But really the president, I think what really nudged Hamas to sort of into this agreement was the president had, last week, late last week, he had put out a message, a social media post saying, hey, we will back up. Israel, if Hamas, Hamas doesn't agree to this. It's on them. All hell will break loose. They're done. And then hours later, Hamas came back and said, okay, we're coming to the table and we're willing to work this out. And since then, he's Steve Whitkoff, the special envoys in the Middle East, and then the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have been very instrumental. They've been there in Egypt. They have been there working long hours to sort of bring this together. And now

the president is headed there this weekend, and he will be speaking the Knesset, I believe that's Monday. And so that would be actually a historical moment as well. And so as of late last night and this morning, Israel has now pulled back, sort of their troops, there's a ceasefire as per the agreement. So now with, per the agreement, it was supposed to be within 72 hours, the hostages would be released. So that would fall in that time frame of like Monday, Tuesday and that area of when the hostages, we can see the hostages be released. So it would be interesting if the president is there when that happens. I think he would, I think he would love to sort of be there for that moment.

Sarah, great reporting on this. You got two big stories out of that single roundtable. Appreciate what you do. Thank you for joining us today. Listeners can keep up with all of these stories and more at the center square.com. Thank you.