US lays out plan to confront white supremacist violence following Capitol insurrection

June 26, 2022 in News, Video by RBN Staff

President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday, June 15 unveiled a plan to address the threat of violence posed by white supremacists and militias, five months after members of those groups joined in a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. The White House released a 30-page plan for increased information sharing between federal and local officials and social media companies, as well as additional resources to identify and prosecute threats and new deterrents to prevent Americans from joining dangerous groups. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the “coming days and months” he would convene an inter-agency task force dedicated to combatting domestic terrorism. Garland said he has already “begun to reinvigorate” that task force. “In the FBI’s view, the top domestic violence extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race,” Garland said. The administration conducted a sweeping assessment earlier this year of domestic terrorism that labeled white supremacists and militia groups as top national security threats. The issue took on new urgency after a Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, who were trying to overturn Biden’s election victory. The new strategy stopped short of calling for new laws to fight domestic threats, and officials did not offer many details on specific new resources.