WASHINGTON: A study highlighting far-right extremist violence in the United States has quietly been removed from the Justice Department’s website, AFP confirmed on Tuesday.
The research, published by the National Institute of Justice, found that far-right groups are mostly involved in deadly attacks inside the US.
The research concluded that “far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical extremists” since 1990.
This finding stands in stark contrast to comments made by senior Trump administration officials about the threat of left-wing extremism, following last week’s assassination of prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The DOJ did not respond to requests for comment on why the paper, titled What NIJ research tells us about domestic terrorism, was taken down in the days after the deadly September 10 shooting in the state of Utah.
As reported by the independent outlet 404 Media, archived versions of the Office of Justice Programmes website captured by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine show that the article was accessible on September 11, but no longer available the following afternoon.
Reached by AFP, one of the cited authors declined to comment on its removal.
Other studies detailing the threat of far-right extremism remain available on the department’s website.
On Monday, the White House said it would pursue an alleged left-wing “domestic terror movement” in the wake of Kirk’s killing, prompting alarm that such a campaign could be used to silence political dissent.
While federal law enforcement includes combating domestic terrorism in its remit, the United States does not maintain a list of designated “domestic terrorist organisations”.
