Pam Bondi Admits DOJ Has a Secret Domestic Terrorist List

Attorney General Pam Bondi for the first time acknowledged the existence of a secret list of domestic terrorist organizations during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. 

“I know Antifa is part of that,” Bondi said under questioning about the list from Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government. Bondi refused to offer any further details about the “domestic terrorist organization” database being compiled under President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, or NSPM-7.

“The goal was to get her – even by denying that she would produce it – to acknowledge that it existed and then raise the alarm,” Scanlon told The Intercept.

The Justice Department had previously refused to acknowledge the list to The Intercept, despite being asked scores of questions about it over a period of months.

NSPM-7, which conflates constitutionally protected speech and political activism with “domestic terrorism” — a term that has no basis in U.S. law – specifically targets those that espouse what the administration defines as anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, anti-fascism, and radical gender ideologies, as well as those with “hostility toward those who hold traditional American views.”

An implementation memo Bondi issued in December directed the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism.”  The initial report was to be submitted to Bondi on January 3 with regular updates issued every 30 days.

A November FBI internal report obtained by The Guardian revealed that there were multiple active FBI investigations related to NSPM-7 in 27 locations.  The Intercept revealed on Thursday that the FBI appears to be investigating Extinction Rebellion NYC, a climate activism group that could potentially be related to NSPM-7.

Bondi’s revelation that she has a working domestic terrorist list came during four hours of back-and-forth with lawmakers that mostly focused on the recently released Justice Department files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. When repeatedly asked if she would commit to providing the House Judiciary Committee with the NSPM-7 list, Bondi snapped at Scanlon: “I’m not going to commit to anything to you because you won’t let me answer questions.”

After Scanlon clarified that this meant Bondi now had a “secret list of people or groups that you are accusing of domestic terrorism, but you won’t share it with Congress,” Scanlon noted that such secrecy precluded Americans from challenging their inclusion on the list. Bondi refused to address the issue and instead insulted Scanlon.

Asked about the NSPM-7 list, the FBI told The Intercept that it had “no comment.”  Justice Department spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre failed to respond to questions about the size of the list or the persons or groups on it.

For months, the White House and Justice Department have continually failed to answer a troubling question from The Intercept regarding NSPM-7: Are Americans that the federal government deems to be members of domestic terrorist organizations subject to extrajudicial killings like those it claims are members of designated terrorist organizations who are targeted in boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean?

Scanlon entered one of the Intercept’s stories on this issue into the record during the Wednesday hearing.

Bondi’s December memo, “Implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” defines “domestic terrorism” in the broadest possible terms, including “conspiracies to impede … law enforcement.”

Federal immigration agents have said they consider observing, following, and filming their operations a crime under the statute that prohibits assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. This is also the foremost statute in a directory of prioritized crimes listed in NSPM-7.

Federal officers frequently confront and threaten those observing, following, and filming them for “impeding” their efforts. In numerous instances, they have unholstered or pointed weapons at the people who filmed or followed them. Both Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis while observing immigration agents.

When asked if Good or Pretti were on any domestic terrorism list, watchlist, or under surveillance by federal authorities, a bureau spokesperson said: “The FBI has no comment.”

“The administration is keeping lists of Americans who the White House says are engaged in domestic terrorism. Those lists could include Americans who have not committed any acts of terrorism but simply disagree with this administration, people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” Scanlon noted during the Wednesday hearing.

When questioned about the NSPM-7 list, Bondi stated that “on February 5, 2025, an Antifa member was arrested in Minneapolis.” Baldassarre did not reply to a request for clarification, but Bondi was likely referring to a Minneapolis man who allegedly described himself as an “Antifa member” who was arrested on February 5 of this year, not 2025.

“This man allegedly doxxed and called for the murder of law enforcement officers, encouraged bloodshed in the streets, and proudly claimed affiliation with the terrorist organization Antifa before going on the run,” said Bondi, last week, of Kyle Wagner, 37, who was arrested on federal charges of cyberstalking and making threatening communications.

Bondi’s Justice Department memo claims that “certain Antifa-aligned extremists” profess “extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment” and “a willingness to use violence against law-abiding citizenry to serve those beliefs.” Over the last decade, Republicans have frequently blamed antifa for violence and used it as an omnibus term for left-wing activists, as if it were an organization with members and a command structure.

In September, Trump signed an executive order designating antifa as a “domestic terror organization,” despite the fact that it is essentially a decentralized, leftist ideology — a collection of related ideas and political concepts much like feminism or environmentalism.

In addition to the Epstein files and NSPM-7, Bondi fielded questions about her department’s unsuccessful effort a day earlier to prosecute six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video on social media in which they reminded military personnel that they are required to disobey illegal orders. The November video led to a Trump tirade that made the White House’s failure to dismiss the possibility of summary executions of Americans even more worrisome.

“This is really bad,” the president wrote on Truth Social, “and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” A follow-up post read: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump also reposted a comment that said: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”

Scanlon told The Intercept that while it was clear that Bondi was not going to provide substantive answers, the hearing did allow her and her colleagues to raise the alarm on a number of issues, including NSPM-7. 

“Every day, we’re seeing this administration weaponize government to go after people who disagree with it. Whether it’s shooting citizens who protest or trying to indict members of Congress who suggest that it’s giving illegal military orders or trying to go after attorneys general around the country. It’s not one isolated thing,” Scanlon said. “It’s connected to a whole bunch of areas where the government isn’t doing its job and instead, is just pursuing the president’s political enemies. It’s truly frightening.”