The son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison declared his support for the radical left-wing group ANTIFA after President Trump said he would designate it as a terrorist group.
“I hereby declare, officially, my support for ANTIFA,” Jeremiah Ellison, a member of the Minneapolis City Council, wrote on his Twitter account Sunday. “Unless someone can prove to me ANTIFA is behind the burning of black and immigrant owned businesses in my ward, I’ll keep focusing on stopping the white power terrorist THE ARE ACTUALLY ATTACKING US!”
Members of the Trump administration, including Attorney General William Barr and national security adviser Robert O’Brien, said ANTIFA members are hijacking the nationwide protests over George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers to instigate violence against police and loot businesses.
“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” the president said on Twitter Sunday.
In a statement, Barr said the federal government will work with state and local officials to target the “violent radical agitators.”
Keith Ellison defended his son’s statement during an interview Monday on CNN.
“I think that that was a comment about the absurdity of the president’s comment more than anything else. We don’t see what the president’s talking about, I don’t think the president sees what he’s talking about,” Ellison said.
Asked about who’s instigating the violence during the protests, Ellison said an investigation should determine which groups are responsible.
“I actually don’t know,” he said. “I’m trying to operate on the basis of evidence. That is something that needs to be investigated and needs to be investigated urgently so that we can stop this criminal behavior.”
But he said the arson, vandalism and other criminal activities being carried out by the outside groups are hijacking legitimate protests.
He encouraged the protesters to call out those who are engaging in violence.
“There’s been a lot of video. I urge people who are peacefully demonstrating to videotape with your phone. These people committing criminal acts, they’re trying to tarnish the reputation of your righteous protest, protect your protest. Don’t let them do it,” he said.
Ellison raised eyebrows several years ago when he posted a picture of himself holding the “Anti-Fascist Handbook.”
“At MoonPalaceBooks and I just found the book that strike fear into the heart of @realdonaldtrump,” the Democratic then-congressman posted in January 2018.
The tweet has since been taken down.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who mobilized the National Guard on Saturday because of the protests, blamed the violence on various groups coming into the state to wreak havoc, mentioning “white supremacists” and “cartels.”
“It gets worse than that,” he said Saturday. “The cartels, who are wondering if there was a break in their drug transmissions, are trying to take advantage of the chaos. That’s why this situation is on a federal level.”
Derek Chauvin, the officer who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis last Monday, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
He and three other officers involved in detaining Floyd have been fired from the force.