Nancy Pelosi denounces leftist Antifa, calls for prosecution

WASHINGTON – Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats denounced the far-left Antifa after its members attacked a conservative protest in Berkeley, California, even as some top Republicans justified their violence.

"Our democracy has no room for inciting violence or endangering the public, no matter the ideology of those who commit such acts," Pelosi said in a statement. "The violent actions of people calling themselves antifa in Berkeley this weekend deserve unequivocal condemnation, and the perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted."

"In California, as across all of our great nation, we have deep reverence for the Constitutional right to peaceful dissent and free speech," Pelosi continued. "Non-violence is fundamental to that right. Let us use this sad event to reaffirm that we must never fight hate with hate, and to remember the values of peace, openness and justice that represent the best of America.”

Antifa terrorized a tiny, peaceful conservative rally in Berkeley over the weekend, prompting the denouncement.

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Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, a Democrat, also joined in to criticize Antifa, calling for authorities to label them a "gang."

"I think we should classify them as a gang," Arreguin said. "They come dressed in uniforms. They have weapons, almost like a militia and I think we need to think about that in terms of our law enforcement approach.

"I think we are going to have to think 'big picture' about what is the strategy for how we are going to deal with these violent elements on the left as well [as the right]," Arreguin added.

Arreguin previously refused to denounce the group and was even a member of By Any Means Necessary, an antifa group on Facebook, Breitbart reports.

Now that Antifa has been thoroughly denounced by both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the far-left mayor of Berkeley himself, conservative commentators are beginning to question why many top Republicans won't weigh in.

WND reported previously on the Republicans who were silent or justified antifa violence, including Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan.

"Paul Ryan's silence on the unhinged, violent alt-left group known as 'Antifa' is in my view, and in most American's view, a tacit endorsement of the group and their tactics," Paul Nehlen, a pro-Trump Republican candidate for Congress who is challenging Ryan in Wisconsin's 1st district told WND.

"Paul Ryan went out of his way to call out violence from the right, and he has also gone out of his way to ignore violence on the left," Nehlen added.

Wednesday, a day after Pelosi's denouncement, Speaker Ryan's spokeswoman AshLee Strong told the Daily Caller that Ryan "believes, as is obvious, these individuals are left-wing thugs, and those who are committing violence need to be arrested and prosecuted. Antifa is a scourge on our country."

Ryan previously condemned President Trump's "both sides" comment on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, sparking criticism from some conservatives.

"We all need to make clear there is no moral relativism when it comes to neo-Nazis. We cannot allow the slightest ambiguity on such a fundamental question," Ryan said.

Trump's National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn praised Antifa, calling them "citizens standing up for equality and freedom."

WND has reported on many of the times Antifa attacked people who disagree with them, including members of Black Lives Matter, highlighting their opposition to "freedom."

Rush Limbaugh bashed Republicans who refuse to denounce the group, targeting Gary Cohn.

"Does [Gary Cohn] really not know that [Antifa] are a group that is devoted to violence, that they are a hate group?" Limbaugh asked on his show. "They are not devoted to equality and liberty and fairness. They are devoted to exactly the opposite."

"We don't need [Cohn] in this administration – put him in the Obama administration, but not this one," Limbaugh continued. "We don't need somebody who doesn't see the threat of leftist violence, somebody who looks at a bunch of leftists and automatically concludes that they are devoted to equality and fairness.

"Trump doesn't need people like this," Limbaugh concluded.