Attorney General Pam Bondi issues a memorandum to all U.S. law enforcement agencies on December 4, 2025, instructing the DOJ to compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism — with a dramatically expanded definition that encompasses political dissent, protest activity, and ideological positions previously protected by the First Amendment. The memo, leaked to journalist Ken Klippenstein, identifies as potential domestic terrorism: opposition to law and immigration enforcement, extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders, adherence to radical gender ideology, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, and hostility towards traditional views on family, religion and morality.
The memorandum specifies that DOJ now views organized doxxing of law enforcement, mass rioting and destruction, violent efforts to shut down immigration enforcement, and targeting of public officials as criminal conduct rising to the level of domestic terrorism. It orders federal prosecutors to prioritize investigating and prosecuting potential crimes involving extremist groups including applicable tax crimes, and instructs the FBI to coordinate with law enforcement partners to compile the list of domestic terrorism entities. The memo calls for a dedicated Antifa tip line backed by additional funding and reward authorities.
The Bondi memo operationalizes NSPM-7, signed by Trump on September 25, 2025, by providing the prosecutorial framework for treating political opposition as terrorism. Former DOJ officials warned the memo raises the specter that forms of political protest traditionally protected by the First Amendment could be criminalized. Lawfare analysis noted the memo quietly rewrites domestic terrorism rules by expanding the definition far beyond violent acts to encompass ideological positions and non-violent protest activities. The memo provides the legal framework used weeks later to classify Renee Nicole Good — a legal observer exercising First Amendment rights — as a domestic terrorist after she was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, and to justify investigating her widow and associated activist groups rather than the shooter.