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Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted representatives from more than 65 countries at the State Department on Thursday, hoping to rally global support against what he said was the resurgence of far-left political terrorism, such as the antifa movement.
The Trump administration offered an all-star cast for the event, with Rubio joined by other key administration officials including FBI Director Kash Patel and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, spoke immediately after Rubio and offered an apocalyptic view of leftist ideology.
"Left-wing terrorism always ends in bloodshed, misery and suffering," said Miller, painting a scene of "deformed" individuals who would turn Western society into a "gulag" if left to their own devices.
After the conference ended, the State Department announced visa restrictions that it said would block the "entry of foreign nationals who finance, recruit, incite, or otherwise enable terrorist, violent, and criminal Far-Left Terrorist networks."
The department did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The Trump administration's push to convince officials of the dangers posed by far-left terrorism had been met with skepticism by some allies, who had said that their own security officials did not assess the threat with the same level of severity as right-wing or Islamist terrorism.
Some current and former U.S. officials previously told The Washington Post that they were concerned that the Trump administration's focus on international far-left groups might lead to a crackdown on domestic activist groups. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions and to avoid retribution.
Trump and his allies have taken aim at left-wing movements in the United States ahead of this year's midterm elections, with the president dubbing these movements "communist" in a speech at Mount Rushmore and stating that they pose a bigger threat to the country than World War II or al-Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks.
Sebastian Gorka, who serves as the administration's counterterrorism czar, has discussed with colleagues the idea of using foreign terrorism labels for antifa to justify going after Americans with links to the movement, The Post previously reported.
Invitations were sent to foreign ministers and interior ministers, though some balked at the short notice and political implications of the event, sending lower-level representatives and practitioners from their capitals and embassies.
Gideon Saar, foreign minister of Israel, was in attendance, seated at a central table with several other ministers. Israel was the only Middle Eastern country to attend.
The Trump administration had initially invited roughly 60 nations to the event, most European, according to an internal document reviewed by The Post. That number was later expanded with more invitees from East Asia and Latin America.
Three invited countries did not send any representation, according to a list of attendees shared by the State Department: Brazil, Mexico and Singapore. In total, representatives from 67 countries attended the event.
Speaking to the conference on Thursday, Rubio acknowledged that not all governments saw the threat the same way but said that far-left political terrorism was a "blind spot," and that many institutions had focused on far-right political terrorism in what he described as ideological prejudice.
"You will no doubt see the dogma rear its head in the coverage of this very conference, in spite of the clear and undeniable reality," he said.
Rubio cited historical acts of political violence in Europe, Latin America and the United States as evidence of the leftist threat, also pointing to more recent events like the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and assassination attempts on Trump.
"It is time to crush this evil forever," Rubio said.
In a statement, the State Department said that "historically, most politically motivated terrorism in the West has been carried out by violent far-left groups and individuals," pointing to a surge in the 1970s.
Many experts concur that acts of left-wing terrorism are growing, though there are disagreements about the severity of the threat. A recently released report by Europol found that there were 12 acts of left-wing terrorism in 2025, second only to "Jihadist" attacks, of which there were 24.
The administration has sought to target antifa, with Trump issuing an executive order last year branding it a "domestic terrorist organization," a rhetorical label that experts say carries no legal weight.
The State Department announced the designations of four European groups as foreign terrorist organizations in September, including a militant group in Germany that calls itself Antifa Ost, despite German officials dismissing the group as posing little threat.
The administration did not announce any new designations on Thursday, though Rubio said there would be more announced "soon." Miller and Bessent both suggested there would be heightened scrutiny of financial links between groups.
Miller said in his speech that an executive order signed last year known as National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 would allow the Trump administration to "to disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest, and prosecute these political terrorists that are operating in our country."
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