Trump holds White House roundtable on Antifa violence with reporters

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump is set to host a roundtable discussion at the White House Wednesday afternoon to hear from independent journalists who have experienced Antifa violence, Fox News Digital has learned.

Trump will be joined by members of his Cabinet, independent journalists and other administration officials for a “listening session” to discuss the radical left group, which was recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization, Fox News Digital has learned.

“For too long, Antifa has ravaged America’s major cities while ineffective Democratic leaders turn a blind eye – and most of the media has followed them,” White House Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “Some journalists had the courage to forge their own path and report the facts rather than follow the groupthink of Fake News.”

The roundtable comes after Trump ordered National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, as part of his administration’s ongoing efforts to eliminate illegal immigrants and crime from America’s streets. The order, however, is currently blocked in court after a federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the administration from deploying troops to Oregon.

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

Antifa is a far-left activist movement that presents itself as an “anti-fascist” militant group. He has been accused of spreading violence through rioting, including during the defund the police and Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, as well as more recently in Antifa-related attacks on federal immigration agents and facilities as the Trump administration works to expel millions of illegal immigrants from the country.

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Riots spread across American cities in 2020 following the death of George Floyd while in police custody. (Samuel Corum/AFP/Getty Images)

At Wednesday’s roundtable, Trump will deliver a speech to the group before hearing from Cabinet members and independent journalists, Fox News Digital learned ahead of the event.

Cabinet members and administration officials scheduled to deliver remarks at the roundtable include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

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President Donald Trump during a meeting during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly September 23, 2025 in New York. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Among the independent journalists expected to join the discussion, Fox News Digital has learned, are Nick Sortor, Cam Higby, Jonathan Choe, Andy Ngo, Katie Daviscourt, James Klug, Savanah Hernandez, Nick Shirley, Brandi Kruse and Julio Rojas.

Ngo, for example, has long reported on riots and Antifa activism in Portland, Oregon, and other West Coast cities, gaining national notoriety in 2019 when he was attacked by masked individuals during a protest in Portland. He then authored the 2021 book, “Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.”

Sortor gained national attention in October after he was arrested in Portland during a protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. He was initially charged with second-degree disorderly conduct before the DA’s office dropped the charges, with Sortor saying he was confronted by two Antifa-affiliated individuals before being arrested.

“The White House applauds these independent journalists; we look forward to hearing from those who have seen the facts for themselves and are sharing the truth about the violence, crime and the failure of local Democratic leaders to solve the problem,” Jackson added in his commentary on Fox News Digital. “Fake News should get started, they might learn a thing or two!”

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Portland, Oregon, was rocked by consecutive nights of rioting in 2020, following the death of George Floyd while in police custody that year. (Thomas Patterson/AFP/Getty Images)

Leavitt has previously and repeatedly chastised the media when speaking about the radical left-wing group, arguing that mainstream media outlets have not accurately reported on Antifa’s violence.

“This is an issue that the president has campaigned on because we have seen a rise in violence perpetrated by Antifa, radical groups across this country that subscribe to this group,” Leavitt said while speaking to the media in September. “And unfortunately, this was widely uncovered by many mainstream media outlets. It was also completely ignored by the previous administration. That’s not the case now.”

Democrats and critics of the Trump administration have argued that cities like Portland, Oregon, where Antifa riots have already occurred, are safe and that the administration is allegedly confusing terrorism with protests.

Trump designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in September through an executive order that criticized the group for “advancing political violence.”

Law enforcement officials and protesters gathered outside the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon on September 28, 2025. (Getty Images)

“Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and repression of political activity, and then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to protect the identities of its agents, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to thwart law enforcement, and recruit additional members,” the executive order states.

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“Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of propagating, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech,” it added.