US lawmakers split on President Trump’s claim to declare Antifa a terrorist organization

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — With protests throughout the country, President Donald Trump is holding the anti-fascist group Antifa responsible and wants to officially designate them a terrorist organization.

People have been protesting across America following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. That officer has been charged with third-degree murder.

“They’re indiscriminate, their violent destruction deprives lawful citizens of their right to really get the issues addressed,” Pennsylvania Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA) said.

Keller says he doesn’t want bad actors to distract from the message of the protests.

“In this case, there are some people that really need to be brought to justice and that’s the police officers who were involved in this horrendous incident with Mr. Floyd,” Keller said.

Meanwhile, some Democrats believe the president is distracting the American public from the real problem.

“The issue isn’t what these protestors are doing or who’s generating these protests so much, it is racism in America. Four-hundred years later, we’re still dealing with it. It’s time to fix the problem,” Virginia Rep. Donald McEachin (VA-04) said.

McEachin says the violence seen in Virginia is a result of racism reaching a breaking point. He says a declaring Antifa a terrorist organization won’t help the country.

“The best thing the president can do is go sit in a corner and be quiet because the things that he’s doing is really quite frankly inflaming the situation. He’s not helping anything, he’s not healing anything,” McEachin said.

McEachin says Americans need to stay focused on the reason for the protests or else the country will stay divided and no progress will be made.