Attorney General Bill Barr said Friday he was forming a new government task force to take aim at “anti-government extremists.”
Barr outlined the new group in a memo obtained by the Washington Post.
“Although these extremists profess a variety of ideologies, they are united in their opposition to the core constitutional values of a democratic society governed by law,” Barr wrote. “Some pretend to profess a message of freedom and progress, but they are in fact forces of anarchy, destruction, and coercion.”
The new task force comes as the United States faces weeks of racial and civil unrest, which has stemmed from the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer last month.
The task force is the latest action by the Justice Department to rein in looting and lawlessness, which has gripped cities across the country.
On Friday, while appearing as a guest on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s podcast “The Verdict,” Barr said the Joint Terrorism Task Force currently had 500 active investigations into acts of violence during recent protests.
President Trump also warned against further violence, signing an executive order Friday to making prosecutions of those who damage federal monuments a priority. The crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.