The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the organization and funding of the violent protests that have disrupted several U.S. cities in recent months, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Monday.
"This is something that I have talked to the AG personally about," said Wolf, adding that the DOJ is now focused on "targeting and investigating the head of these organizations, [and] the individuals that are paying for these individuals to move across the country.
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"What we know, Tucker, is that we have seen groups and individuals move from Portland to other parts of the country," Wolf addeed. "Almost 100 of them were from out of state."
Wolf revealed the probe days after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called on the Justice Department to investigate those funding the organized riots after he and his wife were accosted by demonstrators on the final night of the Republican National Convention.
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Paul commented on the issue in an opinion piece for Fox News published Friday, revealing some of the protesters were actually staying in the same hotel -- and on the same floor -- as he and his wife.
"My question is: Who are these people?," he wrote. "Who paid for their hotel rooms? Who flew them in? Law enforcement needs to look at the funding of violent criminal activity like this. And national Democrats need to confront it. It’s organized. It’s paid for. It’s violent. It’s not about Black lives or any lives; it’s about anarchy and destruction."
According to Wolf, investigators agree that violent actors "are moving around" the country.
"We have seen them in D.C., in Sacramento, and elsewhere," he said. "They are organized. We have seen similar tactics being used from Portland and other cities across the country as well."
Wolf pledged the help of the Department of Homeland Security to assist the Justice Department in their probe.
"We are making sure that the investigations that we are involved in, we are getting that information over to the FBI, to those criminal investigators that are doing their job" he said.
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"I wish that was in a little quicker fashion," Wolf added, but "again, this administration, this president is committed to holding individuals accountable.
Wolf said the investigation will serve as a warning "that if you want to riot, you want to loot, you want to do some of these other criminal acts that we see around the country, there are going to be consequences for that."