President Donald Trump, explaining his controversial decision to attempt to label Antifa a terrorist organization, said burning the American flag is an “incitement to riot,” as are organized protests — which he claimed lead to “death.”
“They have signs and they’re all professionally made,” Trump told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on Thursday, apparently referring to those suspected of celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk, NBC News reported. “Real protesters make them in their basement.”
After suggesting without offering any evidence that philanthropist George Soros might be behind organized protests, Trump declared, “it’s incitement to riot. That’s a criminal act. And people are dying because of it. So it’s really, you know, it’s death.”
Speaking about his executive order to designate Antifa — which is not an organized group that does not have leaders — a terrorist group, Trump said, “They are.”
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Asked, “do you believe that there is a vast terrorist movement in the United States that people need to be aware of, and is it responsible for Charlie Kirk’s killing, for the attempts on your life, for these CEOs that we saw in New York City?” Trump replied, “You never know, and we’ll find out, maybe.”
“But in the meantime, we’re gonna do a big thing with respect to Antifa. It’s a sick group, a very, very sick group.”
“They love burning the American flag. I think it’s terrible that they burn the American flag. And we’re saying it incites riots, and therefore, you go to jail for one year, if you burn the American flag.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that it is not illegal to burn the American flag, it is a protected form of free speech.
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