WASHINGTON D.C. (WCMH) — Some members of Congress want the FBI to do more in the fight against white supremacists.
Now, after President Donald Trump failed to condemn a white nationalist group during last night’s debate, those calls for change are growing.
“Who would you like me to condemn? The proud boys? Stand back and stand by,” Trump said.
On Tuesday, Trump refused to condemn the proud boys — a white nationalist hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“White nationalist groups are organizing and we need to organize as well,” said Illinois Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider.
For the past several months, Schneider has pushed the FBI to create a special office dedicated to right-wing extremism to monitor, track and address these groups.
In September, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress racially motivated extremism made up the majority of domestic terrorism threats.
Schneider’s bill to create the new FBI office passed the House last week but not without pushback from some Republicans.
“We got a bill on domestic terrorism but a bill that barely mentions Antifa,” said Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.
Jordan says the bill ignores violence from the extreme left.
“The cold blooded murder of a Trump supporter by an Antifa member is not mentioned in the resolution, not mentioned in the bill,” he said.
Simon Clark studies white supremacy at the Center for American Progress.
“The white supremacist threat is a much greater threat of actual violence,” Clark said.
FBI Director Wray said as much during his September testimony.
“We look at Antifa as more of an ideology or a movement, than an organization,” Wray said.
A similar bill is sponsored in the Senate by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.
