DOJ Must Investigate Alleged Antifa Attack on Journalist Andy Ngo: GOP Reps

Andy Ngo, a Portland-based journalist, is seen covered in an unknown substance after Antifa extremists assaulted him in Portland, Oregon, on June 29, 2019. Moriah Ratner/Getty Images

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other House GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to demand that action be taken after Antifa rioters attacked journalist Andy Ngo, who has been largely critical of the anarcho-communist group and affiliated organizations, for the second time in recent days.

Ngo was attacked last month while he was in Portland, Oregon, he said in a Twitter thread. Ngo was covering a rally to mark the anniversary of George Floyd’s death—which sparked riots, arson incidents, and demonstrations in Portland and other U.S. cities last summer.

Jordan as well as Reps. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Mike Johnson (R-La.), and Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) alleged that the White House and Department of Justice (DOJ) have engaged in a “tacit acceptance of left-wing political violence” by not condemning or investigating attacks on Ngo and other journalists in recent years.

The letter asked Garland to provide information about the DOJ’s efforts to identify and prosecute individuals who were involved in assaulting Ngo and other journalists. Their letter said that such attacks are violations of journalists’ constitutional rights.

“Leftwing political violence by radical groups like Antifa has gone on long enough. These coordinated attacks on law-abiding Americans, especially journalists like Andy Ngo, are despicable. Why is the Biden Administration allowing carnage on our streets and attacks on the First Amendment? We need immediate answers,” said Bishop in a statement to Townhall.com.

Ngo, who serves as the editor for the Post Millennial website, was taken to a nearby hospital for head injuries after the assault last month. According to him, an alleged Antifa rioter who assaulted him in 2019 approached him with questions before Ngo walked away before a group of people clad in black chased him before punching him in the head and face.

Portland police officers chase demonstrators after a riot was declared in Portland, Ore., on April 12, 2021. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Ngo was able to escape to a nearby hotel. Video footage released by the left-wing Willamette Week publication showed individuals dressed in all black and masks yelling “Nazi scum” at Ngo.

While the FBI and other top Justice Department officials have issued conflicting statements on whether Antifa is an organization or an ideology, Ngo previously told The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD in an interview that he believes the left-wing group is well-organized.

The notion perpetuated by corporate media, celebrities, and some elected officials that Antifa is “anti-fascist protesters” who oppose white supremacy and racism is mostly false, Ngo continued.

“It sounds very noble and it makes people want to get on board with that, because that sounds entirely reasonable,” he said. “But then, as I write in my book, you dive into the ideology of Antifa. And you look at the literature, you look at the thinkers that they look up to, the texts that form the basis of tenants of their ideology. You see very clearly that these are anarchists [and] communists.”

Antifa takes its name and its red and black flag from Antifaschistische Aktion, a 1920s-to-1930s Weimar Republic-era group that was started by members of the German Communist Party with ties to the Soviet Union. Various Antifa and associated black bloc groups have appeared in Europe over the years. Starting in the 1970s, some Antifa groups were founded by the Maoist Communist League of Germany.

The Epoch Times has contacted the DOJ for comment on Jordan’s letter.