A frequent critic of anti-fascist antifa activists, the senator spoke out on The View this week, deflecting arguments about January 6 violence to claim that it was actually the left that carried out a year of fiery, destructive protests across the U.S.

The Claim

On an episode of The View, posted online on October 24, 2022, Ted Cruz claimed that “antifa riots” caused cities to burn across the country for a year.

Cruz argued how Hillary Clinton had called Donald Trump an “illegitimate president,” but did not received the same degree of scrutiny as those claiming the 2020 election was stolen.

Host Whoopi Goldberg then countered “We may not like when Republicans win but we don’t go, and we don’t storm.”

Cruz responded “Did I miss an entire year of antifa riots where cities across this country were burning and police cars were being fire burnt? Your position is the left doesn’t engage with violence?”

The Facts

While Cruz did not go into further detail about antifa, the left, and arson, the context suggests he was referring to the protests that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020.

Marches took place across the U.S. in May and June 2020 after Floyd was murdered by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin (Chauvin wasn’t convicted until 2021).

In Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, more than 1,500 businesses were damaged through a combination of fires and vandalism in the days that followed his death.

There were also reports of fires after Floyd protests in Washington D.C., St Louis, Kansas City, Oregon, Atlanta, Seattle and New York City.

In Portland, Oregon, protests continued for 100 days following Floyd’s death, although not all of these were typified by fires or arson. A report by The New York Times said protests continued in the city for almost a year. This may be the basis for Cruz’s claim. However, the article acknowledges that crowd sizes waned in Portland toward Derek Chauvin’s conviction in April 2021.

The majority of the Floyd protests, however, took place between late May and early June 2020, whereas Cruz’s claim is that violence carried on across America for a year.

It is true that there were other violent, fiery clashes at other protests against police violence and racial injustice between 2020 and 2021. In September 2020, fires broke out in Seattle and Louisville after the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman shot and killed by police in her apartment.

Then in April 2021, a number of buildings were set ablaze following the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot and killed at a traffic stop.

While many businesses were damaged or destroyed as a result of arson, Cruz’s characterization that “cities” burned for a year is significantly stretching the truth, even if taken figuratively.

The senator’s labeling of the events as antifa riots is misleading too. Notwithstanding that antifa is not a formalized group or association, Black Lives Matter was largely recognized as having galvanized protestors across the world following Floyd’s death.

In short, Cruz appears to have grossly mischaracterized both the nature, scope and length of time these protests took. While Cruz may have been referring to protests in Portland which continued for almost a year, it is inaccurate to describe or imply that these happened across the country with each beset by arson.

Cruz has frequently misconstrued antifa as a “terrorist organization” and described George Floyd protestors as “behaving like bigots.”

In response to a Newsweek’s comment request, Cruz’s spokesperson Darin Miller pointed out various other media reports in support of the underlying claim.

Those include an ABC report mentioning “a year of protests” in Portland linked to antifa; a “full year of riots” in Portland mentioned by the New York Post; reports of vandalism of buildings in the Bay Area, including “antifa graffiti”; assaults allegedly committed by antifa members in California in January 2021 against participants of a pro-Trump rally; protests breaking out in New York City, Minneapolis and Portland in June 2021, including vandalism and property destruction; a list of protests across various cities, as Cruz says, “from antifa” for over a year.

As discussed in the article, however, the fact that Portland has been at the heart of protests, linked to antifa activists, was not in doubt. It would also be false to suggest that there are no incidents of vandalism, by groups identifying as antifa or other protest groups, occurring in New York, California or elsewhere both before and after the George Floyd protests. And it is likewise beyond doubt that racial tensions run hot throughout America, as the Wikipedia list (which covers a wide variety of protest movements and groups) shows.

But these separate strands of argument do not amount to evidence for “cities across America” “burning” for a year because of “antifa,” as Cruz purports.

The Ruling

False.

The “antifa riots” Cruz refers to are almost certainly the protests, which followed George Floyd’s death. Most of these occurred between late May to early June 2020. Although many buildings were damaged or destroyed by fire during protests, this did not carry on throughout the year.

While protests did continue in Portland, Oregon for nearly a year, according to media reports, these were not all characterized by arson. Most other cities quietened down after June 2020.

Labeling the protests as “antifa riots” is misleading too. As various outlets have reported previously, “antifa” is simply a moniker given to a disparate network of activists, which has no centralized organization or coordination. While adherents of the anti-fascist movement no doubt have and do participate in protests, and some may identify themselves under the “antifa” banner, there is scant evidence to support the notion that any violence was orchestrated by outside groups or “infiltrators” affiliated with antifa.

Update 10/27/22, 5:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to clarify the definition of “antifa” and add comments from Ted Cruz’s representative.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team