Marco Rubio hosts summit on ‘far-left terrorism’ after dismissing concerns over Trump’s focus on antifa

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will chair the meeting on Thursday and highlight the importance of deepening cooperation with international partners to better map violent activity, disrupt terrorist financing, protect critical infrastructure, and promote collective action "against a threat that respects no borders".

The conference in Washington has sparked Democratic concerns that the Trump administration is politicising counterterrorism efforts and diverting resources from other extremist threats.

He cited the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and multiple assassination attempts against President Donald Trump as evidence of what he called a "distinctive and unique evil."

The conference, convened by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and attended by Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, was billed as a “ministerial on the resurgence of political violence”, but the focus was solely on crushing leftist violence.