'The View' co-host Joy Behar insists Antifa is 'fictitious,' 'doesn't even exist'



Joy Behar, co-host of ABC's "The View," claimed during Monday's show that Antifa — a recognized violent left-wing organization responsible for much of the rioting damage to American cities over the last year — is "fictitious" and "doesn't even exist."

What are the details?

Behar made the incredible statement while the panel discussed remarks made last week by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) in which the lawmaker suggested he never felt "threatened" during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, but would have been more "concerned" if the rioters were members of Black Lives Matter or Antifa.

The host took issue with Johnson's comments, saying, "If I was surrounded by people carrying weapons, people erecting nooses, screaming hang Mike Pence, bludgeoning a police officer to death, I might be a little scared. But Ron, no he's not scared of these people. He's scared of this fictitious idea of Antifa, a thing that doesn't even exist. He needs to go. He needs to go — and soon."

Here's ABC's @TheView co-host Joy Behar claiming Antifa doesn't exist during a segment on Sen. Ron Johnson's comme… https://t.co/lbDQCLxbhQ
— Tristan Justice (@Tristan Justice)1615829362.0

In attempting prove her point, Behar repeated the erroneous reporting that fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was bludgeoned to death.

What else?

"Antifa does exist," fellow co-host Meghan McCain countered, though she agreed with Behar that Johnson's comments were racist and unacceptable.

"The Anti-Defamation League has come out and said it's a both dangerous and counterproductive organization. The actual Portland courthouse was set on fire this very weekend," she said,

"What separates Antifa is their willingness to use violence," she added, pointing out that she has friends who have been reporting on Antifa's violence "for months" and noting that one was even injured by the violent agitators.

"We can say Ron Johnson is an absolute moron. We can say not all activism is violent, but the idea that Antifa doesn't exist is just, just factually inaccurate and wrong and a lie," she concluded.

Anything else?

Behar retorted by alluding to comments made last year by FBI Director Christopher Wray. Speaking at a House Homeland Security Committee meeting, Wray claimed Antifa is "not a group or an organization" but a "movement or an ideology."

What Behar failed to note, however, is that literally two seconds before he made that comment, he uttered the words, "Antifa is a real thing."

"We have any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists, and some of those individuals self-identify with Antifa," he went on to say.

FBI director confirms 'Antifa is a real thing,' we have 'quite a number' of investigations ongoing



FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed Thursday in testimony before Congress that "Antifa is a real thing" and not just a fantasy conjured up by right-wing conspiracy theorists.

What are the details?

Wray was speaking at a House Homeland Security Committee meeting when he told lawmakers that Antifa, though perhaps not an organization in the traditional sense, is certainly a real movement that has resulted in a multitude of arrests this year.

"Antifa is a real thing. It's not a group or an organization. It's a movement, or an ideology may be one way of thinking of it," the FBI director said.

"And we have quite a number — and I've said this quite consistently since my first time appearing before this committee — we have any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists, and some of those individuals self-identify with Antifa," he added.

WATCH LIVE: FBI director, other officials testify on homeland security threats youtu.be

Elsewhere in the testimony, Wray affirmed, "Antifa is a real thing, it's not a fiction ... we certainly have, as I've said, a number of ... properly predicated investigations into violent, anarchist extremists who subscribe to, self-identify with, Antifa. They say, you know, I am Antifa."

Wray's remarks rebuff attempts by Democratic lawmakers to downplay the influence of Antifa or, in some cases, dismiss its existence altogether.

In July, Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), who serves as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed that the well-documented Antifa violence being conducted night after night in Portland, Oregon, was "a myth that's being spread only in Washington, D.C."

What else?

To the dismay of President Trump, however, Wray was reluctant to call Antifa an organized group and preferred to consistently characterize it as a "movement or ideology."

Trump appeared to push back at that notion in a tweet following the hearing, calling the group "well funded" and chastising the FBI, which he said "is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source, and allows them to get away with 'murder.'"

...And I look at them as a bunch of well funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller insp… https://t.co/IAbGTter9d
— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1600387562.0

Fittingly, much of the mainstream media reporting on Wray's testimony focused on this apparent disagreement between Wray and other members of the Trump administration.

The Associated Press reported that Wray's testimony "puts him at odds with President Donald Trump, who has said he would designate [Antifa as] a terror group."

The president announced earlier this year that the United States would designate Antifa as a terrorist organization.