The Post’s Coverage of the Minnesota ‘Antifa’ Indictment is Pretty Bad

Washington Post reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske has written at least two reports covering the indictment of 15 “Antifa” activists in Minnesota. The latest one, published today, presents an almost entirely one-sided account based on interviews with three of the people who’ve been indicted and their attorneys. It’s headlined, “Activists indicted in alleged ‘antifa’ plot say charges are boosting protest effort.” The story opens with the arrest of Cameron Kennedy:

Cameron Kennedy heard his neighbors blowing whistles Tuesday morning, then banging on his apartment door.

He said he knew, even before peeking out his front window — partially blocked by a sign that reads “Ice out of Minneapolis” — that federal agents were on the other side. Kennedy recalled seeing a dozen homeland security officers in tactical gear, guns drawn. They lined the stairs leading to his welcome mat that says “Come back with a warrant.”

They had one — and a battering ram.

“There was no way to keep them out,” said Kennedy, a 36-year-old sales rep.

So he opened the door, arms raised, as officers seized his phone and computer. He said he feared for his life.

Cameron Kennedy spoke to local reporters outside the courthouse after his release. Here’s how he described his arrest. “I heard a pounding on the door at 6 o’clock in the morning,” he said. He continued, “I came to the door and just what you’re seeing here and there was 12 door kicker Gestapo ice agents at the door rifles pointed at my head telling me to surrender.”

Did Kennedy leave out the “gestapo” language when he spoke to the Post or is the Hennessy-Fiske just sane-washing this guy for readers?

Both of the articles on this topic use the same definition of Antifa which makes me wonder if this isn’t part of some Post style-guide:

Short for “anti-fascists,” antifa is a loosely knit movement of far-left activists. They are often anti-capitalist or anti-state, and oppose fascism and right-wing ideologies, which has made them a target of the Trump administration.

This is an intentionally useless definition of Antifa, one designed to match their own description of themselves as a “movement” not a group. The difference of course is that a movement can’t be prosecuted. This definition also leaves out the most important thing about Antifa which is that they embrace “direct action” which is a term of art for vandalism and violence. Indeed, the only thing that distinguishes Antifa from a thousand other left-wing protest groups is their willingness to go beyond civil disobedience to violent lawbreaking for their cause. A better summary for the group, and one they use themselves, is “bash the fash.”

Having obscured the whole point of the group, the Post then denies the connection of some of the individuals being charged to that group:

But some of the defendants and their attorneys said they did not all belong to those groups, that the groups were mischaracterized and that the prosecutions are politically motivated. They said the indictment is designed to intimidate those who resisted the federal operation and to appease Trump…

Attorney Jordan Kushner, who represents Erik Davis, the professor charged with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, said the term antifa is being misused to criminalize anyone “opposed to what the president stands for.”

“Antifa is just another buzz word they use to single people out and persecute them,” Kushner said, adding, “It is really frightening.”

First off, the indictment clearly identifies the people charged as members of Direct Action Minnesota and the Black Cat Collective, often based on self ID as members of those groups.

As for the idea that this is about criminalizing a movement for its beliefs, there is an entire indictment which is responsive to those claims. These “activists” are being targeted for specific actions, not for their beliefs. And we know the author of this story has seen that indictment because she describes some of what it contains.

Messages from Signal, an encrypted app, were quoted at length in the indictment, some attributed to an “un-indicted co-conspirator.” The indictment also detailed alleged “commuter” activities, how volunteers tailed suspected U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles, sharing and tracking license plate information with remote “dispatchers.”

But neither story makes any real effort to characterize much of what is in the indictment. For instance, when the indictment was announced, a social media posting from Cameron Kennedy was highlighted in which he wrote, “I want to make this as clear as I can: YOU WILL NEVER WIN WITH NON-VIOLENCE ALONE.  Ever. No one has. No one will. You absolutely need militants to win.” 

Why would the Post leave this out?

More to the point, the indictment includes quotes from Kennedy himself describing his own actions outside the federal building on the two days covered by the indictment. This happened during a visit to Seattle as part of an Anarchist Speaking Tour:

Kennedy discussed the Jan. 23 direct action at the Whipple Building, stating that DAMN utilized a “soft blockade with shields at one entrance. He continued that there were “two other deployment teams…those deployment teams had trailers that they had bought off of Facebook Marketplace for really cheap and they essentially tried to blockade the other entrances simultaneously with this blockade (pointed to soft blockade on the projector). One of those trailers was deployed and flipped and successfully shut access. The other was about 30 seconds away from successful deployment before the team was actually pepper sprayed. They managed to avoid arrest…and they managed to drive away, albeit losing the trailer in the process.”

Kennedy also spoke about the direct action at the Whipple Building on March 1. Kennedy pointed to a projector screen and said, “the one you see over here is another shield wall on March 1st.” He continued, “this demonstration had four components to it. There was a above ground march that was led by indigenous sundancers that would take up gate one of the Whipple Building and the others were designed to essentially shut down the other two points of egress…there was 3 deployment teams.  The first deployment team brought in shields.” The second deployment team “was sent in and they had something to be like tank busters…” Kennedy described these items as similar to “images of like D-Day, they’re like the metal X structures that you see and actually when the vehicles hit them, it digs back into the road and will stop the vehicle.” Kennedy explained, “I was on deploy 2 or deploy 3 and I had a 10-foot U-Haul box truck and a 30-foot trailer that I was going to use to block one of the entrances.”

Given that Kennedy has been charged with Conspiracy to Impede or Injure a Federal Officer, I’d say his statements about his own attempts to block entrances with a box truck and shut down a federal building full of federal officers seem relevant to the case. But, again, the Post ignoring all of that in favor of quoting claims from a defense attorney. Shouldn’t readers of these articles at least be marginally informed that there might be a legitimate case against these people? Of is the Post just committed to its readers always being surprised by the facts.

The Post article goes on to do the same whitewashing with another activist who was charged for her involvement.

Natasha Rakotz, 45, a home health aide who is among those charged, said she didn’t belong to any of the organizations listed in the indictment…

Rakotz is facing some of the most serious charges in the indictment: conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer and assault on a federal officer in connection with using her Honda Civic to allegedly sideswipe agents during an anti-ICE protest outside their base of operations at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on May 18.

“I’ve never harmed any agents. They’re saying I used my vehicle as a weapon, which I did not. There was a collision, but there was no intent to harm,” she said. “What I’ve done and what others are doing is trying to organize to make our communities safer.”

The Post is literally giving us one side of the story. Author Hennessy-Fiske has the full indictment in front of her. Here’s what it says about this incident with the car.

On May 18, a federal immigration officer left the Whipple Building in his government-issued vehicle. DAMN member Natasha Rakotz drove a Honda Civic and followed the federal immigration officer from the Whipple Building to the area of Minnesota State Highway 55 and Minnesota State Highway 5. Rakotz “brake checked” the officer and “side swiped” the officer’s vehicle, causing a collision. 

Below is an image of Natasha Rakotz ramming her Honda Civic into the federal immigration officer’s government-issued vehicle.

Rakotz wants us to believe she just happened to sideswipe an ICE vehicle which she had been following onto the freeway. Is that credible? I guess a jury will decide, but readers of the Washington Post ought to at least know she’s accused of following this agent in her car, break checking and then sideswiping him. Does Molly Hennessy-Fiske know all of this? Of course she does, but she’s not sharing it with her readers for some reason.

Anyway, if you want to know what is happening, read the indictment or the press release. The account being presented as news by the Washington Post is so one-sided that it borders on deceptive.

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