"RADICAL left-wing groups" are inflicting "horrible violence in organized terror attacks" across the country, Ted Cruz has said.

"Across the country, we're seeing horrific violence, we're seeing our country torn apart," Cruz told Fox News on Monday.

He continued: "Violent anarchists and Marxists are exploiting protests to transform them into riots and direct assaults on the lives and safety of their fellow American.

"These violent riots are not spontaneous, nor are they mere coincidences. Instead, the evidence suggests they are organized terror attacks designed to instill fear and tear down the fundamental institutions of government."

Cruz is set to chair a "The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence" meeting of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution to investigate groups such as Antifa on Tuesday.

He told Fox: "The hearing will assess who is driving the violence, who is driving the assaults, who is driving the fires, who is driving the explosions, who is driving the murders, why are they doing so, how are they doing so and what do they hope to achieve through violent acts of terror?"

Cruz said that he wants the meeting to also look into the Black Lives Matter organization – who he said was created by "Marxists."

"The actual organization denominated Black Lives Matter was created by avowed Marxists pursuing a radical agenda including defunding police departments across the country and that agenda, if implemented, would have the consequence of a great many more black lives being lost."

Portland has seen more than two months of often violent demonstrations following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In early July, President Donald Trump sent more federal agents to the city to protect the federal courthouse, but local officials said their presence made things worse.

The Portland Police Bureau declared an unlawful assembly Saturday night when people gathered outside a police precinct in Oregon’s largest city and threw bottles toward officers, police said.

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Until that point, federal, state and local law enforcement had been seemingly absent from the protests Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The demonstrations — that for weeks ended with tear gas, fireworks shot towards buildings, federal agents on the street and injuries to protesters and officers — have recently ended with chanting and conversations.

Activists and Oregon officials urged people at Saturday night’s protest in Portland to re-center the focus on Black Lives Matter, three days after the Trump administration agreed to reduce the presence of federal agents.

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