Witnesses at a recent Senate hearing who testified about antifa’s role in stirring aggressive protests and riots in Portland, Oregon, say their call for federal action may be ignored due to process issues in the proceeding that left Senate Democrats fuming.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, on Tuesday, led the three-hour hearing of his judiciary subcommittee, “The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence.” The hearing aimed to explore violence erupting from riots in cities around the country, particularly in Oregon’s largest city.
Witnesses included senior Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli, editor-at-large of the Post Millennial, Andy Ngo, Director of Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Center for Security Policy Kyle Shideler, George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, and Brennan Center for Justice Fellow Michael German.
While Republicans on the panel focused on violent mobs at the recent riots in Portland, Democrats took aim at white supremacy and the Department Homeland Security’s handling of events in Oregon. Several cited President Trump for incendiary rhetoric and making matters on the ground worse.
Cruz wants to see antifa, a loose network of radical leftist militants, designated as a terrorist organization, as well as be investigated under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. But both Ngo and Shideler appeared ambivalent about either becoming a reality.
“Well, obviously, I’m really pleased that Sen. Cruz held this hearing, that he was open to actually hearing, you know, valuable testimony about what antifa is, how it’s organized, how it came about, how it operates,” Shideler told the Washington Examiner. “But I’m not real optimistic in terms of what will come out of it. It seems like the divide between the Republicans and Democrats on this issue could not be wider.”
Ngo testified before the committee about his experiences covering antifa in Portland. Ngo told the Washington Examiner he was disappointed only one Democratic senator, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, heard his testimony. The notion of declaring antifa a domestic terrorist organization has been “reduced to mostly political talking points or political rhetoric.”
“One of my goals in coming all the way out here from Portland is I wanted to really make it clear to them that we’re dealing with a insurrectionary movement, an ideology, that seeks to harm not just the Right but also Democrats and the republic as well,” he said.
“That’s what’s at risk, and they don’t want to hear that,” Ngo said. “Instead, there was just this partisan squabble, which is a distraction from such a serious matter.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, who marched out of the hearing room in apparent disgust, told the Washington Examiner the hearing went as he expected.
“I think there’s a narrative that the president and his allies are trying to promote,” Whitehouse said. “This hearing was used to promote that.”
Hirono, the ranking member of the Constitution subcommittee, grew incensed with Cruz following her closing remarks. Wrapping up the hearing, she excoriated Cruz for not listening and said that “we all should be denouncing violent extremists of every stripe.”
Cruz interjected, “Does that include antifa?”
“I have the time,” Hirono shot back.
“I hope this is the end of this hearing, Mr. Chairman, and that we don’t have to listen to any more of your rhetorical speeches,” Hirono responded. “Thank you very much. I’m leaving.”
Turley, a veteran of congressional testimony, was still sitting on the panel when Hirono whisked past the witness table toward the exit. Turley was taken aback by the fireworks in the hearing room.
“The hearing ended with Sen. Hirono walking out after confrontation with Sen. Cruz over antifa. In roughly 50 hearings, this was a first for me. I was not sure if I should turn off the lights when I left,” Turley tweeted.
Cruz later responded to his Democratic colleagues’ exit of the hearing prior to its adjournment.
“I think it’s unfortunate in the entire course of the hearing we still have not a single Democrat not willing to condemn an antifa. They were given multiple opportunities to do so,” he told the Washington Examiner.
“Instead, they simply want to scream about white supremacists. White supremacists are evil and bigoted and should be prosecuted anytime they commit violence. They won’t say the same thing about the left-wing radicals.”
