Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice has quietly deleted a study showing that far-right attacks outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violence extremism.
A June 2024 study on domestic extremism by the National Institute of Justice, a research agency under the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, began by noting that “militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States.”
“In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism,” it reads. “Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.”
The paper goes on to state that “no single profile accurately captures the characteristics of the individuals who commit extremist and hate crimes,” citing data from two NIJ databases.
The study was on the OJP website until around Friday, when sharp-eyed social media users noticed that it had been replaced with an error message stating, “The requested page could not be found.” The deletion was first reported by investigative reporter Jason Paladino.
The entire 13-page study can still be accessed through an archived version of the webpage.
The paper generated renewed interest after Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist who pushed right-wing values through his popular podcast, was shot dead in Utah last week. The assassination immediately set off a firestorm of finger-pointing between liberals and conservatives, who accused each other of sowing political violence.
President Donald Trump was quick to hold “radical left lunatics” responsible for Kirk’s killing, telling reporters that individuals and groups on “the left” have been placed under investigation.
“If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right,” he said on Sunday. “When you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place—that’s the left. That’s not the right.”
Vice President JD Vance and top White House aide Stephen Miller joined the anti-left pile-on when they appeared on Kirk’s eponymous podcast after his death.
“We have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism that has grown up over the last few years,” Vance said Monday. “I believe it is part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet.”
Vance claimed, without presenting evidence, that “it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left.”
Miller, meanwhile, accused a “vast domestic terror movement” of stoking political violence and vowed to “uproot and dismantle” what he described as “terrorist networks” in the wake of Kirk’s death—even though authorities have said the gunman acted alone.
“The last message that Charlie sent me was—I think it was just the day before we lost him—which is that we need to have an organized strategy to go after the left-wing organizations that are promoting violence in this country,” he said.
Some social media users had cited the NIJ study in arguing that the left should not take the blame. The paper does indicate that “U.S. extremists and individuals who commit hate crimes routinely come from across the ideological spectrum, including far-right, far-left, Islamist, or single-issue ideologies.”
White House correspondents also cornered Trump on Monday with a list of attacks on Democrats carried out by right-wing actors.
“I didn’t say it’s on one side,” Trump countered, “but I say the radical left causes tremendous violence and they seem to do it in a bigger way.”
The suspect in Kirk’s shooting has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. Several officials have claimed that the alleged shooter subscribed to “left-wing ideology,” but a criminal indictment filed Tuesday provided scant details supporting the claim.
Robinson allegedly told his roommate and romantic partner—a man transitioning to a woman—that he “had enough” of Kirk’s “hatred.”
“Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” he wrote.
The OJP and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
