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Donald Trump, citing Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade, made a claim in the following tweet

“I don’t see any indication that there were any white supremest groups mixing in. This is an ANTIFA Organization. It seems that the first time we saw it in a major way was Occupy Wall Street. It’s the same mindset.” @kilmeade
@foxandfriends TRUE!

Given the widespread media coverage of the protests, including video documentation and multiple group organizations joining in, were white supremacist groups at protest sites?

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    The claim says there is no evidence of it. It'd probably make more sense to verify that claim rather than the opposite.
    – TheWanderer
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 14:57
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    @TheWanderer: We should accept answers in either direction, so it should be equivalent.
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 15:14
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    with tens of thousands of americans showing up, odds are there were some there...
    – dandavis
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 18:04
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    Donald Trump cite Fox host. Department of Safety Commissioner John Harrington cite their arrest records "some of the 40 arrests made in the Twin Cities Friday night were of people linked to white supremacist groups and organized crime"
    – SZCZERZO KŁY
    Commented Jun 2, 2020 at 7:50
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    @fredsbend Understandable - this question is focused on one aspect of that. I would say that a second question confirming evidence of Antifa hijacking would be appropriate, given the extraordinary claim of William Barr.
    – Zibbobz
    Commented Jun 5, 2020 at 14:26

2 Answers 2

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According to the NY Times:

Members of hate groups or far-right organizations filmed themselves, sometimes heavily armed or waving extremist symbols, at demonstrations in at least 20 cities in recent days, from Boston to Buffalo to Richmond, Va., to Dallas to Salem, Ore.

Note that this is evidence that they were "at the protest sites" but not much else. Intentions to incite civil war are widely documented online, but I'm not seeing strong evidence that they are directly involved in anything like looting or property damage.

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    There are certainly many images online of (apparently) white people participating in vandalism.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 16:41
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    @DanielRHicks, yes, but none that I've seen so far with any clear indication of their politics, which is central to the question asked here.
    – Brian Z
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 16:58
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    "State officials also gave conflicting accounts of whether the suspected agitators came from the ranks of white supremacists exploiting the rage over Floyd’s death, or left wing anarchists bent on turning the anger toward their ends of discrediting the police." Not much there as far as concrete evidence goes. Some out of state arrests, mention of Bugaloo Bois, etc.
    – Brian Z
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 17:28
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    ... There are other signs that looters aren't really protesters, but rather outside opportunists. In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said looters were organized and possibly came from outside of the city. "There clearly was coordination, they were clearly listening to our radio traffic," she said. "The number of U-Haul trucks that magically showed up in front of stores, car caravans that dropped people off and broke windows and then were hustling the goods out into the backs of the cars -- absolutely, it was organized."
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 21:25
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    I don’t think we need “signs” that looters aren’t protestors: they’re looters. That pretty much excludes them from being legitimate protestors. If they’re looting, they’re looters, not protestors (and unfairly giving a bad name to those legitimately protesting).
    – Tim
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 23:44
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The Washington Post:

LAS VEGAS — Three Nevada men with ties to a loose movement of right-wing extremists advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government have been arrested on terrorism-related charges in what authorities say was a conspiracy to spark violence during recent protests in Las Vegas.

The men were arrested while preparing Molotov cocktails and were in possession of fireworks, according to the report. It also states that they intended to join the protests and to firebomb a power station. They identified with the so-called boogaloo movement, which advocates a second Civil War.

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    OK. All that proves is that three Nevada men with ties to a loose movement of right-wing extremists were arrested.
    – Robert Harvey
    Commented Jun 4, 2020 at 14:20
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    @RobertHarvey I think it does more than that. They were attempting to join the protests, which applies directly to the question asked. Given the movement's focus on the Civil War, it clearly has white supremacist connections. I find it difficult to read this as anything but "white supremacists mixing in with groups protesting Goerge Floyd's death," which is the question asked.
    – Alpha Draconis
    Commented Jun 4, 2020 at 14:30
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    @user34258 From what I've read, the Boogaloo fixation is on a coming civil war, not the previous one. They explicitly want to violently overthrow the government. Exact reasons and for what end seem vague.
    – user11643
    Commented Jun 5, 2020 at 14:28
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    The "Boogaloo" movement is definitely trying to prepare for and incite an insurgency against federal and local governments in the US. While there are very significant factions in the movement who advocate white supremacy, according to this article by investigative journalists with a lot of experience in researching and reporting on far-right groups there are some nuances in the loose coalition: bellingcat.com/news/2020/05/27/…
    – Greg
    Commented Jun 5, 2020 at 16:20

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