Congressmen Krishnamoorthi, Welch, Request Information From CIA and FBI on Misinformation About Antifa Activity Used To Incite Tensions

WASHINTON, DC – Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT), both members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote to the CIA and FBI requesting any information the agencies have about the spread of localized misinformation promoting Antifa events and gatherings.

"We've recently seen an alarming proliferation of localized misinformation campaigns about nonexistent Antifa gatherings and ‘invasions' across social media," the members wrote. "These campaigns are not just stoking unnecessary fear in our communities, they're causing heavily armed counter protesters to arrive in locations where no protests are taking place. Moreover, the similarities in the dissemination methods to previously identified disinformation campaigns from foreign nationals and designated hate groups merit further investigation."

This inquiry follows reports that the proliferation of misinformation about Antifa gatherings has spread in dozens of communities throughout the country. The posts usually cite text messages – which appear to be variations of template messages – claiming active duty military personnel or members of local police departments provided the information. State and local authorities in the majority of these communities deny any involvement on the part of their department. But the posts nonetheless amplify these falsely advertised Antifa events and gatherings, leading to potentially dangerous encounters between counter-protestors and local community members.

The undersigned requested follow-up from the CIA and FBI by July 22^nd with responses to the following questions:

1. Does the FBI or the CIA have any information regarding foreign nationals managing Antifa misinformation campaigns within the United States?
2. Does the FBI or the CIA have knowledge of active-duty military officials or state and local police officers that are sharing misinformation on falsely advertised Antifa events?
3. Are federal authorities investigating the identity of the Facebook account "Left Behind USA" that promoted a flag burning event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where an armed militia arrived on July 4, 2020?
   1. Are federal authorities investigating the veracity of the identity for the individual, Alan Jeffs, who claimed to be managing the "Left Behind USA" social media page but has no known publicly available records in the United States?
   2. Are federal authorities investigating the sophisticated cross-posting by Left Behind USA on Twitter, Facebook, and Change.org?
4. Are federal authorities investigating the actions of the white supremacist groups Identity Evropa and American Guard, that both Twitter and Facebook claim to include the creation of multiple social media accounts posing as part of the Antifa movement?
5. Do federal authorities have the identities of the individuals, organizations, or groups that promoted the Antifa gatherings in the following locations:
   1. Toms River, New Jersey.
   2. Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
   3. Payette County, Idaho.
   4. Klamath, Oregon.
   5. Milan, Michigan.
   6. Yucaipa, California.
   7. Locust, North Carolina.
   8. Forks, Washington.
   9. Snohomish, Washington.
   10. Sparta, Illinois

The text of the letter can be found here.