CRC in the News: Soros under fire, Arabella loses Bill Gates, and more

Here is a sampling of the Capital Research Center’s media citations over the last couple of weeks:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy: 100-Plus Foundations Stand United as White House Goes on the Attack

CRC’s Michael Hartmann was quoted in a report about Big Philanthropy’s response to the murder of Charlie Kirk:

The Trump administration has not taken specific steps against foundations since the Kirk shooting, but according to news reports, attempts to revoke the tax exempt status of groups deemed by the administration to support terrorism and executive orders that redefine hate speech are both on the table.

The foundations’ message should be lauded for its condemnation of violent acts, said Michael Hartmann, senior fellow at the Capital Research Center, a conservative advocacy group that focuses on philanthropy.

But he suggested that “big philanthropy” is being too defensive in response to questions that the Kirk shooting have raised about the results of their grant making.

“While the fear of increased and aggressive scrutiny may be understandable, I suppose, it might be better for there to be at least some introspection,” he wrote in an email.

Full report here (paywall protected): 100-Plus Foundations Stand United as White House Goes on the Attack

The New York Times: Trump Invokes Kirk’s Killing in Justifying Measures to Silence Opponents

The New York Times quoted CRC president Scott Walter regarding the response from the White House to Charlie Kirk’s murder:

In recent months, Mr. Trump’s aides and conservative activists have worked to shape the kind of crackdown that now appears to be coming to fruition.

“When the left has had power, it has gone after conservatives and their speech, so I am thrilled to see the administration promising to investigate the left-wing nonprofit sector, and hold people accountable,” said Scott Walter, president of the conservative watchdog group Capital Research Center, which monitors money in politics.

Mr. Walter has briefed senior White House officials in recent months on a range of donors, nonprofit groups and fund-raising techniques, while also providing research briefs, including one titled “Marching Toward Violence,” that purported to draw a connection between anti-Israel protests on college campuses and terrorism.

[…]

Some on the right worry that targeting hate speech could backfire against them next time Democrats are in power by opening what Mr. Walter called “a Pandora’s box that we could all come to regret.” He argued that the administration would be better served investigating whether some of the groups ran afoul of provisions in the tax code.

Full report here (paywall protected): Trump Invokes Kirk’s Killing in Justifying Measures to Silence Opponents

The Hill: The SPLC is biased — and extraordinarily wealthy

An essay from CRC’s Robert Stilson was featured in The Hill. This is from his introduction:

The Southern Poverty Law Center is perhaps most notorious for its “hate map,” which not only neglects to track extremist groups on the left, but also lumps mainstream conservative and religious organizations right alongside some of the most reprehensible neo-Nazis and white supremacists in the country.

The full report is here: The SPLC is biased — and extraordinarily wealthy

The Daily Signal: Left-Wing Nonprofits Lose Massive Funding Partner

Bill Gates cut off his funding to Arabella Advisors. In his report on this development, The Daily Signal’s Tyler O’Neil credited the Capital Research Center for exposing the left’s notorious dark money pipeline:

First quote:

Last year, Capital Research Center President Scott Walter published a book on Arabella Advisors, highlighting how the for-profit company helps left-leaning nonprofits promote climate alarmism, abortion, and other causes. The book’s cover features Bill Gates.

That research proved foundational to my own book, “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.” I testified before Congress alongside Walter on how Americans’ taxpayer dollars prop up leftist groups, including some nonprofits linked to Arabella.

This increased scrutiny—coupled with President Donald Trump’s orders cutting federal funding for climate alarmist causes; “diversity, equity, and inclusion” efforts; and gender ideology—may have combined to make Arabella too toxic for the Gates Foundation.

Second quote:

“Over the next five years, this decision will probably cost Arabella something close to $1 billion in revenues, at least on the nonprofit side,” the Capital Research Center’s investigative researcher Parker Thayer said in a recent podcast episode. He noted that most of the Gates Foundation’s contributions to the Arabella network were “nonpolitical.” He predicted that Arabella will survive the hit.

Full report here: Left-Wing Nonprofits Lose Massive Funding Partner

The Center Square: Lawsuits increasing in energy, plastics, chemical manufacturing industries

A report on lawfare against the plastics industry quoted CRC’s Robert Stilson:

While such lawsuits are sometimes well intentioned, they are “at least in part by a desire simply to burden the defendant or the defendant’s industry in some way,” said Robert Stilson of the Capital Research Center. “This might be through causing delays or increased costs, scoring public relations points, or attempting to achieve through litigation what those activists have been unable to achieve through legislation”

Full report here: Lawsuits increasing in energy, plastics, chemical manufacturing industries

The Ukiah Daily Journal: From the desk of… America’s hyperpoliticized teachers unions

Byron York cited InfluenceWatch as his research tool in a report on teacher unions and Arabella Advisors:

To take one example, if you haven’t heard of the Hopewell Fund, it is a nonprofit associated with Arabella Advisors, a notorious “dark money” network for Democratic causes. (The nation’s largest charity, the Gates Foundation, recently cut ties with Arabella Advisors.) The Hopewell Fund, according to the monitoring group Influence Watch, “primarily exists to sponsor a number of ‘fake’ groups: websites designed to look like standalone nonprofits … [that] typically exist to effect an issue advocacy campaign pushing left-wing policies and may disappear after the campaign is finished.”

Full report here (paywall protected): From the desk of… America’s hyperpoliticized teachers unions

Campus Reform: New Orleans law school trains students in ‘deportation defense’ for illegal aliens

InfluenceWatch was quoted in a report from Campus Reform, a project of the Leadership Institute:

The Immigrants’ Rights Law Clinic launched in 2020 with support from a $400,000 donation from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which is described as a “left-of-center grantmaking organization” by Influence Watch. The foundation reportedly has over $11 billion in assets and also funds left-leaning initiatives related to abortion and systematic racism.

Full report here: New Orleans law school trains students in ‘deportation defense’ for illegal aliens

Washington Examiner: Can Trump pull off RICO charges against Soros?

CRC’s Parker Thayer was quoted in a Washington Examiner report regarding George Soros:

Some Soros critics say the president’s legal team may have a more viable path by pursuing potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act rather than racketeering.

Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center, told the Washington Examiner he thinks there is stronger public evidence linking Alex Soros to alleged foreign lobbying activities that could potentially trigger FARA violations, particularly in connection with then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s 2021 sanctions policy in Albania.

“It seems pretty clear Alex might have intervened to try and get the opposition leader in Albania sanctioned,” Thayer said, referencing the U.S. sanctions against Sali Berisha during the Biden administration. “That would be lobbying on behalf of a foreign government — or at minimum, foreign citizens — to influence U.S. policy. That’s textbook FARA.”

Thayer pointed to the close relationship between Alex Soros and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, noting that Rama was a guest at Soros’s wedding in June. The sanctions decision by Blinken, which proved politically beneficial for Rama during an election cycle, raised red flags in Thayer’s view, saying that if it were proven that he was lobbying without proper disclosure, that could have violated federal law.

“There’s much more likely to be something there,” Thayer said.

Full report here: Can Trump pull off RICO charges against Soros?