Vice President JD Vance told Salem Radio Network host Scott Jennings on Tuesday that the Trump administration was looking into the “entire network” of organizations that support left-wing violence.
President Donald Trump declared Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in a Sept. 17 post on Truth Social, a week after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an event at Utah Valley University. Vance told Jennings that the administration would not just stop at those who threw bricks at United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents or who attacked conservatives.
“It’s not just the people who commit the violence, Scott, I mean, look for every person who throws a brick at an ice agent or takes a shot at a conservative commentator, there’s an entire network behind it,” Vance told Jennings. “Who brought the brick? Who paid for it? Who are the networks, the violence that actually support this stuff, that ferment this stuff? How do people get radicalized, if not for the really crazy rhetoric we see coming from some corners of the far left?”
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“You know, Scott, even after Charlie was shot there were people who are celebrating, who said that he deserved it,” Vance continued. “All of that is part of a network of left-wing violence. It’s not just the person who pulls the trigger, it’s all the people who support them and make it possible for them to get radicalized in the first place.”
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump survived two attempts on his life one during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the other while he was playing a round of golf in Florida. Ryan Wesley Routh, who was charged with the September 15 attempted assassination, declared his intent for Trump’s death in a letter, according to legal filings.
“We have a very aggressive task force right now to try to root out this left-wing political violence, try to find out who’s funding some of this crazy stuff, try to find out who’s buying the bricks that these people are throwing at ICE agents and I think that’s going to bear some real fruit,” Vance said. “Obviously, that stuff takes time, but I do think the American people should expect that their government is going to respond to this stuff.”
ICE facilities in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have been the site of several riots as resistance to the agency’s efforts targeting undocumented immigrants has increased during President Donald Trump’s second term. During one ICE operation in Chicago, agents were assaulted by multiple attackers who used vehicles to ram cars used by the agency.
Before those events, the Department of Homeland Security stated in a Sept. 26 post on X that there had been several violent assaults on an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. In Portland, Oregon, left-wing rioters have allegedly attacked conservative reporters covering the unrest and intended to use lasers against aircraft operated by federal law enforcement agencies.
Two individuals were killed during a shooting at an ICE office in Dallas on Sept. 24, with the shooter taking his own life. In Texas, there were at least two earlier cases where gunfire was aimed at ICE or Border Patrol locations in July, with ten people being charged in connection with the event in Alvarado, Texas.
ICE agents have also been shot at while carrying out enforcement operations in Illinois and California.
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