Veteran journalist pushes back on liberal narrative downplaying Antifa violence

While pundits and liberal networks across the country downplay the rise of Antifa violence, a journalist who has covered the domestic group designated as terrorists broadly disputed that narrative in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Social media was Full of posts In recent weeks, elected officials and pundits have appeared to dismiss concerns about Antifa violence as merely an “ideology” rather than an organized effort, which Njoo says is a message driven by implicit support for the cause.

“It’s an ideology, but neo-Nazis organize themselves around one ideology, and jihadists organize themselves around one ideology, so what’s your point really? The point you’re really trying to make, when people bring this up, is to provide Antifa cover because these people on the left know that the same organized armed Antifa networks and individuals are acting as shock forces for their cause.”

He added: “They have the same enemies, they want the same results in terms of destroying institutions, and they want to intimidate the political opposition and force it to remain silent and withdraw from the political process.”

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Njoo went on to explain that individuals who question the existence of Antifa networks should watch the footage he and other independent journalists posted.

“I show them a video from June 2019 when people working in an organized manner beat me with their faces covered, they had weapons, and then they fled,” Ngo said. “No one has ever been arrested for it. If that’s not convincing enough, I’ll have them watch the video of the 2020 assassination in Portland of Aaron Danielson, a Trump supporter who was killed by someone who left behind a statement. If you don’t believe the video, you can read his statement. He describes himself. I am 100% antifa.”

President Trump, who issued an executive order last month declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, Hosted a roundtable At the White House on Wednesday where Njoo and other prominent independent journalists spoke with the president about the violence they saw and experienced firsthand.

Antifa is a far-left militant movement that describes itself as anti-fascist. She has been accused of organizing or encouraging violent riots, most notably during the 2020 “Defund the Police” protests and, more recently, in attacks targeting federal immigration facilities.

Ngo said his biggest takeaway from the event with Trump was acknowledging the dangerous work journalists have done covering anti-fascist violence in recent years with little support from mainstream outlets or elected officials.

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President Donald Trump designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization under an executive order issued in September 2025. (Diego Diaz/Sportswire Icon via Getty Images)

“I’ve been reporting on antifa for about nine years, and for some of that time I’ve felt like I’m reporting on something that no one who can do something about it will listen to,” Njo told Fox News Digital. “And there was a lot of despair during that time. I saw a lot of violence, I saw death, and I experienced violence myself. I feel optimistic now. I think the topic of Antifa is confusing, and I’m grateful that I have the experience to be able to share that with the administration.”

Ngo told Fox News Digital that he has “a lot of gratitude to the president” for holding the event, saying: “They have a million things to do. There are a lot of important things on the world stage. And yet, almost two hours were devoted to this topic. So I don’t take any of it for granted, and I’m just grateful that I was able to be there.”

Ngo also told Fox News Digital that the event was “bittersweet” for him personally due to losing his father earlier this year.

“I wish he was there to see it,” Ngo said. “My parents were communist refugees from Vietnam. I don’t know how they would have taken it if they had known the full extent of far-left militancy in America and that they were raising a son who took great risks to try to expose him. So I wish my father had been there to share that moment with me.”

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President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable on Antifa at the White House, Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

Ngo’s family history living under communism is relevant in today’s conversation regarding Antifa, the Portland-born journalist told Fox Digital, given the core communist beliefs espoused by far-left movements in the United States today.

“For a century, communists and anarchists, especially in Europe, have engaged in violence that sparked revolutions, and today Antifa looks to those historical examples in the violence they carry out,” Njo said, adding that many “normal” and mainstream liberals in the country are confused by the media’s “deception and disinformation” regarding Antifa.

“If you read the mainstream, one might leave with the impression that these are the only people who oppose fascism and racism. So why not join that, right?” Ngo explained. “When the ideology is really anarchist communism and violent anarchist communism, many of them engage in violence for the sake of nihilistic violence. They want to see things burned. Their own slogan has become ungovernable. So, if you care about democracy, institutional liberal democracy, civil rights… you shouldn’t. You can’t be anywhere besides advocating for or covering so-called “Antifa.”

Ngo went on to say that Antifa’s messaging and ideology has become more and more “mainstream” with evidence that it is a “skewed worldview philosophy” that has given rise to those who celebrated the assassinations of Charlie Kirk, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and those who “call for the assassination of me and others.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Antifa criticized During the roundtable on Wednesday, they argued that the network is “just as sophisticated as MS-13, like TdA, like ISIS, like Hezbollah, like Hamas, like all of them.”

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The city of Portland, Oregon, witnessed consecutive nights of riots in 2020, after the death of George Floyd while in police custody that year. (Thomas Patterson/AFP/Getty Images)

She said authorities recently arrested the girlfriend of the Antifa founder in Portland, and that investigators are trying to get more information from her about the network of newly designated “domestic terrorists” during their trial.

Noem said the administration’s explicit goal is to “eliminate terrorism.” [Antifa] of the existence of American society.”

“These individuals don’t just want to threaten our law enforcement officers, threaten our journalists and the citizens of this country. They want to kill them,” Noem said.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Dabrowska contributed to this report.