President Donald Trump signed a sweeping directive Thursday to combat domestic terrorism and political violence, following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
The new National Security Presidential Memorandum establishes a comprehensive federal strategy to investigate and dismantle organized political violence networks.
The directive comes two weeks after Kirk was killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10. The administration characterizes his death as part of an escalating pattern of targeted political violence.
Under the new strategy, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces will coordinate investigations into all aspects of political violence. This includes tracking radicalization, recruitment, funding mechanisms, and the involvement of non-governmental organizations.
According to the memorandum, the Attorney General must prosecute all federal crimes related to organized political violence. It identifies doxing campaigns, swatting, rioting, and property crimes as domestic terrorism priorities.
The memorandum directs the Treasury Secretary to disrupt financial networks funding domestic terrorism and instructs the IRS Commissioner to ensure tax-exempt entities are not financing political violence, referring violators to the Justice Department.
The directive instructs the Attorney General to recommend groups for potential designation as so-called “domestic terrorist organizations,” according to the White House.
According to the White House, attacks on ICE officers have increased by more than 1,000% since January 21, 2025. A shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas on Wednesday resulted in multiple casualties.
The administration cites previous incidents, including assassination attempts on Trump in 2024 and on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It also references the 2024 assassination of a healthcare executive and anti-police riots that caused $2 billion in property damage.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie [Kirk] to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump stated. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
Trump vowed his administration would pursue “each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”
The memorandum attributes political violence to coordinated efforts under “self-described ‘anti-fascism’ and anti-American principles.” It calls for investigating “all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies.”
Trump previously announced Antifa would be treated as a domestic terrorist organization, directing federal agencies to investigate and dismantle its operations.
The directive comes alongside broader administration efforts, including the America 250 Task Force on patriotism, expanded civics education, and a declared crime emergency in Washington, D.C.