The Justice Department has launched anti-terrorism and civil rights investigations into the University of California, Berkeley’s raucous protest against Turning Point USA.
The FBI is looking into the Monday melee that saw hundreds of protesters swarm the venue, shouting at attendees, clashing with police and touching off skirmishes that resulted in at least three arrests.
Attorney General Pam Bondi blamed the turmoil in part on antifa, the shadowy far-left group designated a domestic terrorist organization by President Trump.
“Antifa is an existential threat to our nation,” she said in a statement. “The violent riots at UC Berkeley [Monday] night are under full investigation by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force. We will continue to spare no expense unmasking all who commit and orchestrate acts of political violence.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her Civil Rights Division will examine whether the university and Berkeley police should have done more to ensure the safety of organizers and attendees.
“They seem to be completely unprepared. Local police, as well, seem to be unprepared, undermanned,” Ms. Dhillon told Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham. “They treat it as if it’s a both-sides problem. It is not a both-sides problem. When a violent mob like antifa comes and attacks like this, it’s what we call a heckler’s veto in First Amendment jurisprudence.”
Berkeley was the final stop on the “This Is Turning Point” fall tour, which was joined by prominent figures such as Vice President J.D. Vance after TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.
Dan Mogulof, Berkeley’s assistant vice chancellor, said the university is conducting a “full investigation and intends to fully cooperate with and assist any federal investigations,” blaming the violence on “outside agitators.”
Two of the three protesters arrested by police were not students. The student was cited and released, according to San Francisco’s KGO-TV.
One of the nonstudent suspects was charged with trespassing and obstruction, while the other was charged with battery and robbery in an attack on a vendor selling TPUSA merchandise.
In addition, four students were charged earlier Monday with felony vandalism for trying to hang a large cardboard bug from the Sather Gate landmark at Sproul Plaza, as reported by The Daily Californian, the student newspaper.
“Thanks to the dedication and cooperation of numerous University, state, and local police officers, the efforts to prevent last night’s event did not succeed,” said Mr. Mogulof in his statement. “Instead, the TPUSA event proceeded safely and without interruption, with more than 900 participants in attendance.”
Ms. Dhillon countered that 2,000 bought tickets to the event featuring comedian Rob Schneider and Christian author Frank Turek, but many of them were deterred by protesters.
“It was a sold-out crowd of 2,000 people, and yet less than 1,000 people were there at the stadium because people were intimidated by this violence,” Ms. Dhillon said. “This is not a consequence-free situation. Berkeley has announced, ‘Oh, we’re so happy 1,000 people came to hear this.’ That is not the whole story.”
The @CivilRights Division, under @AGPamBondi’s leadership, has asked UC Berkeley Police to preserve all records regarding their response to the mob violence at UC Berkeley’s TPUSA event.
Every American has the right to speak at and attend events without fear. pic.twitter.com/gxwPG2xrBu
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) November 11, 2025
Berkeley has a history of unrest over conservative speakers dating back to at least 2017, when campus officials canceled a speech by right-wing firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos after demonstrators threw rocks and set fires, causing $100,000 in damage.
Also that year, conservative columnist Ann Coulter had her speech canceled by Berkeley, which said it could not protect her.
The university entered into a 2018 settlement agreement with Young America’s Foundation and Berkeley College Republicans aimed at protecting the free-speech rights of conservatives, including implementing a standard fee schedule for all speakers regardless of political beliefs.
Ms. Dhillon, who helped negotiate the settlement, said it “feels like deja vu all over again.”
“The story is that when [Supreme Court Justice] Sonia Sotomayor comes to speak, when the Dalai Lama comes to speak, the Berkeley campus somehow is able to protect the speaker and all the people who attend, and when it’s a conservative speaker, it isn’t,” she said.
She also said she has concerns about whether Berkeley, a public university, is violating the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“The obvious version here is, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s antifa attacking people,’” Ms. Dhillon said. “But I also have concerns about UC Berkeley’s history of not protecting conservative speakers on the campus, and I also have concerns as the top civil rights lawyer in the United States about whether the Berkeley police are doing their job under the law to protect citizens equally. That’s an equal protection concern.”
