FBI Director Kash Patel said Wednesday that federal investigators have uncovered what he described as significant funding streams tied to antifa, signaling potential new enforcement actions as the bureau intensifies scrutiny of left-wing violence.
Speaking on The Dan Bongino Show, Patel told his former co-deputy director that the FBI under the Trump administration has been conducting a financial investigation into how demonstrations linked to the loosely organized far-left movement are supported.
🚨BREAKING: FBI Director Kash Patel reveals on Dan Bongino that a MAJOR DISCOVERY has been made regarding the FUNDERS of Antifa terrorists
“Wait until you see what’s coming in the next month or two on the FUNDING STREAMS related to this.”
LFG! 🔥
“You and I had launched a… pic.twitter.com/Lp3o8Jls22
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 18, 2026
“These organizations don’t operate alone or in silence,” Patel said. “They operate with a heavy, heavy stream of funding. And we started looking into it — and guess what? We found them.”
DEMOCRATS BET KITCHEN-TABLE ISSUES CAN BLUNT GOP MONEY ADVANTAGE
Patel did not identify specific donors, organizations, or financial mechanisms and said more details could emerge in the coming months as the investigation continues.
The FBI director said agents are examining whether funding has flowed through U.S.-based nonprofit groups, including some with tax-exempt status, as well as possible foreign sources. He emphasized that investigators are focused on tracing financial support tied to acts of violence rather than constitutionally protected protest activity.
“Money doesn’t lie,” Patel said, describing the effort as a strategy of “following the money” to determine who may be underwriting unlawful conduct.
Patel also pointed to prosecutions the bureau has already brought that he said were connected to antifa-related violence, including federal arrests and convictions tied to protest incidents in multiple states.
He referenced the ongoing federal trial involving nine defendants in Texas who are accused of ambushing and attempting to murder on ICE personnel on July 4, and a case from 2023 in Georgia surrounding the proposed Atlanta public safety training facility known as “Cop City.”
ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES FLOOD SOCIAL MEDIA AS SEARCH FOR SAVANNAH GUTHRIE’S MISSING MOTHER CONTINUES
During the interview, Patel said the FBI has elevated the issue of investigating antifa funding networks internally by creating what he described as a dedicated program focused on identifying financial backers of protest-related violence.
“Tracking antifa has become so important” that the bureau established additional resources to investigate the funding behind such activity, he said.
Antifa has long been described by participants and many analysts as a decentralized movement rather than a formal organization, a distinction that has complicated past law enforcement efforts to pursue conspiracy-style cases. However, antifa does have some organizational structures, such as conferences and a national network for local chapters.
Bongino said past FBI leadership under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden put forth the notion that antifa is nothing more than “an idea,” adding that “you and I know that’s bulls***. It’s not an idea when actual action follows the idea.”
In September, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring antifa as a domestic terror organization, after he initially expressed support for doing so during his first term amid national protests and vandalism in cities following the death of George Floyd.
Patel said the FBI’s current approach relies on intelligence and financial investigations similar to those used in other counterterrorism probes, but he did not announce any new charges tied specifically to the alleged funding networks.
