Trump targets 'domestic terrorism' amid fears of crackdown on the left

Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum on Thursday aimed at reining in what he has called a radical leftwing domestic "terror network" but which seemed likely to meet fierce legal pushback from critics depicting it as a licence for a crackdown on his political opponents.

- Robert Tait and Aram Roston

Prompted by journalists, Trump suggested that George Soros, the billionaire Hungarian-born philanthropist who funds the Open Society Foundations, could be in his sights. He also identified Reid Hoffman, a billionaire venture capitalist, adding: “I hear about him. Maybe it could be him. It could be a lot of people.”

Earlier, the Open Society Foundations had hit back at reports that the justice department was planning to target the group and criticised the Trump administration for “politically motivated attacks on civil society”.

Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement: “After one of the most harrowing weeks for our first amendment rights, the president is invoking political violence, which we all condemn, as an excuse to target nonprofits and activists with the false and stigmatising label of ‘domestic terrorism’. This is a shameful and dangerous move.”

At a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, the memorandum was presented as aimed at “establishing a comprehensive strategy to investigate, disrupt and dismantle all stages of organised political violence and domestic terrorism”.

It was said to be part of an administration-wide response that would include the FBI’s joint terrorism task-forces, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury.