Antifa activist being charged with assault was linked to Democratic decision makers

Joseph Alcoff, center, was photographed with Representative Maxine Waters, left, and Senator Sherrod Brown, it is true.

What a difference a year has made for Joseph Alcoff.

On Monday, the 37-year-old has a hearing date on charges he faces in Philadelphia, including aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation for allegedly having is part of a group. The antifa crowd in November attacked two marines, Alejandro Godinez and Luis Torres, both Hispanic. Alcoff and two other people accused in the attack pleaded not guilty.

ANTIFA FIGURE CHARGED WITH A MARINE ATTACK

But, while Democratic officials now distanced themselves from Alcoff, he was until recently a politically connected actor in Washington. who may have even been involved in key policy proposals.

His support was apparently important when several congressional Democrats in February 2018 issued press releases with his quote supporting their payday lender regulation bill.

Liberal group Americans for Financial Reform, Alcoff participated in congressional congress press conferences, was invited to a Democratic podcast of the House and met with senior officials of the Office of Consumer Financial Protection of 2016 to 2018.

Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and the Highest Democrat in the Senate (Banks, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. monitor the financial regulation policies advocated by Alcoff

Alcoff met with Richard Cordray, then director of the CFPB, and other senior officials of the CFPB in April 2016, again in March 2017 and a third time in May 2017 , as the Washington Free Beacon had announced.

At that time, he would have been an Antifa officer in Washington.

The former employer of Alco ff had little to say on the subject.

"In December, Mr. Alcoff was no longer working for AFR," Carter Dougherty, spokesman for Americans for financial reform, told Fox News in a courier

Dougherty did not answer the question of whether Alcoff had been fired or resigned. He also does not say whether the organization was aware of Alcoff's associations during his employment.

Alcoff would also be an organizer of Smash Racism DC, the group responsible for gathering and shouting threats in front of the Fox News host Tucker Carlson's home in November and for heckling Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his wife Heidi at a Washington restaurant in September. The reports did not indicate that Alcoff was directly involved in either incident; only that he was associated with the group.

THE MARINE WITNESSES TO THE ANTIFA MOB ATTACK

The Democrats hardly want to associate with Alcoff now. Most spokespersons for Democratic members of Congress have not responded to Fox News' inquiries or distanced themselves from Alcoff.

At one appearance, Alcoff disguised himself as "Lenny the Loan Shark" at an event held in front of the CFPB headquarters last March. including the representative Don Beyer, D-Va.

"The congressman never had any interaction with him or took any financial policy advice from him. Their names are on the same piece of paper, "spokesman Aaron Fritschner told Fox News. "He appeared at the same press conference, but they did not talk to each other – this person was literally wearing a shark suit."

In the February 2018 press release, House and Senate Democrats – Sponsoring the Law on Loans to End Abuse and Fraud in Electronics (SAFE) a press release, including mostly quote Alcoff.

"In the past, the Bureau of Consumer Affairs and Congress had figured out how payday lenders are structuring their loans to jail Americans in a debt cycle with exorbitant interest rates," Alcoff said in a statement. press releases. "It is unfortunate that some in Washington prefer to open the doors of lenders instead of continuing to think of reasonable protections from borrowers. The SAFE Lending Act would put Washington back on track to end the debt trap.

In August, Alcoff was invited to the podcast of the House of Commons Common Economic Committee of Democrats criticizing the decline of the CFPB under the Trump administration. [19659007] "This has been a kind of incredible erosion [Trump administration actions] recently, but these are really very important basic functions [CFPB’s mission] that citizens from all over the country should be able to turn to Washington and take a look at. wait there, "said Alcoff on the podcast. ] In connection with the subsequent attack in Philadelphia, both Hispanic marines reported that the Antifa mob, made up of about 10 to 12 attackers, had shouted racial slurs during the beating. Only three members of the crowd were identified and arrested. The attack took place at the same time as a rally on the right in Philadelphia, to which Antifa went to protest. The marines who were assaulted said that they were not even aware of the rally.

"On one side, you have the Proud Boys, a racist group of Nazi thugs. On the other hand, you have anti-racist activists, "said Michael Coard, Alcoff's attorney at Philadelphia Magazine. "Unfortunately, in the mix, there were two Marines who were caught in the trap as innocent bystanders."

magazine regarding allegations of insults, "The question I ask myself for the prosecutor's office and the police is this: does anyone think that I, Michael Coard, would represent a racist? … I would never represent a racist. In fact, if I thought he was racist, I would pursue him myself. "