While Trump, Barr and the GOP portray racial injustice protesters as violent radical leftists, the Associated Press has reviewed thousands of pages of court documents to find a different story.
Very few of those charged appear to be affiliated with highly organized extremist groups, and many are young suburban adults from the very neighborhoods Trump vows to protect from the violence in his reelection push to win support from the suburbs.
Some who are facing charges do have far-left and anti-government views, but some are far-right as well. Some are from out of state. And some have criminal records and were illegally carrying weapons. Others have been accused of using the opportunity to steal and wreak havoc.
But many have had no previous run-ins with the law and no apparent ties to antifa, the umbrella term for leftist militant groups that Trump has said he wants to declare a terrorist organization.
AG Bill Barr has encouraged prosecutors to push federal charges, including sedition, on protesters who caused violence. But defense attorneys are questioning the motive of the DOJ when they say the majority of cases belong at a state or local level, where defendants would receive lighter sentences.
More to the AP story here.
