Members of antifa, who Joe Biden once characterized as “an idea,” attacked the Democratic Party of Oregon’s headquarters on Wednesday mere hours after Biden was sworn in as president.
In the streets: A group displaying antifa and Black Lives Matter symbols marched to the party’s office in Portland around 2 p.m. local time.
- They set dumpster fires, smashed windows and tagged the building with anti-Biden and anti-police graffiti until dispersed by the police, who made eight arrests.
- One sign read, “F-ck Biden still fascist.”
- “We don’t want Biden—we want revenge!” read one banner, while another announced, “We are ungovernable.”
The clash: A group later attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland until federal agents dispersed it with tear gas and pepper balls.
- The protesters chanted “F-ck Joe Biden” as they marched to the facility, which has been the repeated target of destruction for the city’s radical protesters.
“An idea”: Biden in September said antifa “is an idea, not a group” during a debate with Republican rival Donald Trump.
- The then-presidential candidate was referencing a statement made in September of last year by FBI Director Christopher, in which he said antifa is a “movement or ideology.”
- What Biden left out: In the same statement, Wray also said the FBI had conducted “any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists.”
- Trump’s response: “When a bat hits you over the head, that’s not an idea,” Trump said at the debate. “Antifa is a dangerous, radical group.”
Did Biden ever denounce antifa? When pressed by the media to disavow the group, Biden later said he condemned “violence, no matter who it is.”
