Democratic House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler says Antifa violence in Portland is a 'myth' — and gets absolutely savaged for it

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), chairman of House Judiciary Committee, said Antifa violence in Portland, Oregon, taking place night after night — and documented in numerous videos and news reports — is a "myth."

What are the details?

Journalist Austen Fletcher — better known as @fleccas on Twitter — caught up to Nadler on a Washington, D.C., sidewalk Sunday, and while video rolled asked him, "Do you disavow the violence from Antifa that's happening in Portland right now? There's riots —"

"That's a myth that's being spread only in Washington, D.C.," Nadler replied.

"About Antifa in Portland?" Fletcher asked again.

"Yes," the New York congressman responded.

As the incredible exchange was going down, another person, presumably an aide, stepped into the video frame to whisk Nadler into a waiting vehicle.

"Sir, there's videos everywhere online," Fletcher called out as Nadler departed in silence. "There's fires and riots, they're throwing fireworks at federal officers. DHS is there. Look online. It gets crazy, Mr. Nadler."

Afterward Fletcher remarked, "Yeah, Antifa's a myth in Portland. Meanwhile, the whole city's on fire, and they're trying to burn down the courthouse."

Here's the clip:

How did folks respond?

As you might guess, Nadler's claim wasn't received too well. Donald Trump Jr. weighed in saying, "It's a myth other than hundreds of hours of video and dozens of injured police officers":

Others voiced similar sentiments:

Last month U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — the Judiciary Committee's top Republican — blasted Nadler for calling Antifa "imaginary."

"They're not imaginary, they're real," Jordan said, adding that "to have the chair of the Judiciary Committee, on the House floor, say ... these words ... 'imaginary things like Antifa.' They are far from imaginary. And there are people in every major city in this country who know that, and yet the chair of the Judiciary Committee just made that statement. That is scary."

Gabriel Nadales, a former Antifa militant, said Nadler's "imaginary" claim is "false."

"I mean, the only thing that's imaginary here is Representative Nadler's sense of justice," Nadales told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. "I mean, the protests I attended ... weren't imaginary. Also, the windows that I regrettably broke, they weren't imaginary. Yet every single time that we have left-wing politicians ... that deny and ignore and even justify Antifa violence, it's only going to continue to grow."

Anything else?

What began as protests over George Floyd's killing in late May has shifted in Portland to nightly mayhem courtesy of Antifa and Black Lives Matter militants who attack police, set fires, destroy property, and roam the streets looking to intimidate all those who get in their way.

On Sunday night Portland police responded to reports of gunfire in Lownsdale Square Park, where many of the protesters have been encamped, and found a bag full of loaded rifle magazines and molotov cocktails. BlazeTV host Elijah Schaffer said Antifa militants have been using fake press badges to confuse police and the few members of the real press there to cover the rioting.

And despite Nadler's claims that Antifa violence is a "myth" and Antifa's existence is "imaginary," evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. From President Donald Trump saying the U.S. would declare Antifa a terrorist organization to Jeremiah Ellison — a Minneapolis city councilman and the son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison — declaring his support for Antifa in response to Trump, Antifa certainly appears to be all too real.