FBI Director Kash Patel has announced that the bureau is “following the money” behind Antifa and other far-left militant groups, launching an unprecedented financial investigation aimed at dismantling every donor network, funding mechanism, and organizational link supporting domestic extremism.
“We are following the money. Money never lies,” Patel said during a briefing alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “And that’s what it’s going to take to bring down this network of organized criminal thugs, gang bangers, and yes, domestic terrorists — because that’s what they are.”
Patel said the FBI is working closely with the Treasury Department to map out the web of accounts and entities used to finance Antifa’s operations across the United States and abroad.
“We will not rest until we uncover every single source of funding, donor, organization, and financial support that exists,” he added.
According to Patel, the effort will span every major city in the country. “They will not be able to hide. They were able to hide and conspire with prior administrations, and we are exposing their corruption from within,” he said.
The renewed crackdown follows President Donald Trump’s order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization under the September 22 White House directive, which cited the group’s “militarist, anarchist enterprise” and its use of “illegal means, including violence and terrorism, to accomplish political goals.” The order directs federal agencies to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle” Antifa’s illegal operations and their financial backers.
The administration said Antifa had organized armed standoffs with law enforcement, carried out assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and engaged in doxing campaigns that endangered officers and political opponents. “Antifa’s efforts to advance political violence and suppress lawful political speech must be stopped,” the order states.
Trump earlier designated Antifa as a “domestic terror organization.”
“I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, a sick, dangerous, radical left disaster, as a major terrorist organization. I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices,” he said.
The crackdown also coincides with Patel’s sweeping effort to purge political bias from the FBI — including cutting ties with outside activist groups that have shaped the bureau’s approach to “hate” and “extremism” under previous leadership.
Patel earlier announced the FBI would terminate its relationship with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), ending years of cooperation that began under former Director James Comey.
“James Comey disgraced the FBI by writing ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedding agents with an extreme group functioning like a political organization,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “That was not law enforcement — it was activism dressed up as counterterrorism, and it put Americans in danger. That era is finished. This FBI formally rejects Comey’s policies and any partnership with the ADL.”
In response, the ADL issued a statement expressing “deep respect for the FBI and law enforcement officers” and reaffirming its mission to fight antisemitism.
Days later, Patel announced another high-profile severance — this time with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the influential civil rights group long associated with tracking alleged extremist organizations.
Both the ADL and SPLC had previously scrutinized Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA, labeling the conservative organization “far-right.” Kirk was assassinated last month during a Utah campus event by a shooter who left behind messages referencing Antifa slogans.
Patel has framed the FBI’s latest actions as a long-overdue correction of what he calls “a weaponized era” within federal law enforcement.
“We are restoring an FBI that serves the Constitution — not activist agendas,” Patel said. “We’re going after the financiers, the fixers, and the foreign actors behind domestic terror. The money trail leads to the truth — and the truth will lead to justice.”