A top official from the FBI crumbled when grilled about the status of Antifa as a domestic terrorism threat.
The cringeworthy moment came as senior Trump administration officials testified before the House Homeland Security Committee at a hearing on the perceived threats to America.
Democratic ranking member Bennie Thompson asked Michael Glasheen, operations director for the national security branch of the FBI, to name the top domestic terrorism threats to the U.S.
Glasheen responded that President Donald Trump had signed an executive order naming Antifa a domestic terrorist organization.
“That’s our primary concern right now,” he said.
But the line of questioning became trickier for Glasheen as he was unable to answer basic questions about the left-wing, anti-fascist movement.
Thompson pointed out that it was Trump who designated it a domestic terror group.
“What does the FBI say?” Thompson asked.
Glasheen said that the bureau shares the president’s view.
“When you look at the data right now, when you look at the domestic terrorist threat that we’re facing. Right now, what I see from my position is that’s the most immediate violent threat that we’re facing on the domestic side,” he said.
Thompson questioned him on where Antifa is headquartered, but Glasheen appeared to be struggling with how to respond. He raised his hands in a shrug as he started, but the congressman almost immediately cut him off.
“Where in the United States does Antifa exist?” Thompson asked. “If it’s a terrorist organization and you’ve identified it as number one.”
Glasheen said they were “building out the infrastructure right now.”
The Democratic ranking member asked what that meant as he sought more information.
“You said Antifa is a terrorist organization. Tell us as a committee, how did you come to that?” Thompson asked. “Where do they exist? How many members do they have in the United States as of right now?”
Glasheen argued that it was “very fluid.”
“It’s ongoing for us to understand that, the same, no different than Al-Qaeda and ISIS,” he said.
But Thompson was not having it.
“I just want you to tell us. If you said Antifa is the number one domestic terrorist organization operating in the United States, I just need to know where they are, how many people,” Thompson cut him off. “How many people have you identified with the FBI that Antifa is made of?”
“Well, the investigations are active,” Glasheen said, continuing to raise his hands in a shrug.
Thompson fired back that he knew Glasheen wouldn’t come to the committee and claim something he could not prove.
“I knew you wouldn’t do that, but you did,” Thompson admonished him.
Trump designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization with an executive order in September as he repeatedly criticized the political far-left, but the impact of the move is unclear.
Antifa has been described in the past by the FBI, including its most recent director, Christopher Wray, before he was replaced by Kash Patel, not as a group but as an ideology.
Glasheen has served with the FBI for more than 20 years, including in the counterterrorism division and as director of the Terrorist Screening Center. In 2025, he was picked by Patel to serve as one of the bureau’s operations directors.
