U.S. State Department Convened an International Conference on Combating Left-Wing Terrorism

The US State Department is holding an international conference on the terrorist threat posed by far-left movements. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who initiated the gathering, urged other countries to recognize the danger and work together to counter it.

Opening the conference, Rubio said that for decades terrorism had been associated primarily with Islamist and far-right organizations. Yet the political left has historically resorted to violence as well, he said, and the contemporary threat it poses cannot be ignored.

“Even the very idea that far-left terrorism could pose a serious threat is treated as right-wing lunacy or, worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy,” Rubio said. “You will undoubtedly see, in coverage of this conference, that despite the indisputable and obvious reality, the notion of organized violence and terror from the left will be dismissed as a partisan invention.”

The secretary of state cited the 2024 attempt on Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania, the subsequent attempt to attack him in Florida and the incident at the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington.

All three suspects supported the Democratic Party, though there is no evidence that any belonged to a far-left organization.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who also addressed the conference, said he had himself narrowly escaped a politically motivated attack.

“In February 2024, I was the target of an assassination attempt by an adult left-wing activist, just two hours after being sworn in,” Bessent said. “So if any of you want to claim that left-wing terrorism is imaginary and does not exist, come to the sentencing in August.”

Bessent was apparently referring to events in February 2025. At the time, 28-year-old Massachusetts resident Ryan English voluntarily surrendered to Capitol Police and said he had planned to kill the treasury secretary shortly after he took office.

When English was arrested, officers found a folding knife and two vodka bottles fitted with wicks soaked in hand sanitizer.