CRC News: Congress looks at left-wing street chaos

Fox News Channel—House committee investigates left-wing organizations ‘sowing chaos’ across US: The House Ways and Means Committee is holding a Tuesday hearing to expose left-wing nonprofit groups BreakThrough and Tricontinental, which the GOP says are injecting anti-American propaganda into domestic protest movements.

Capitol Research Center President Scott Walter testified that the U.S. nonprofit industry has become a primary vehicle for political influence, increasingly shielded from transparency and donor disclosure and uniquely vulnerable to foreign money.

He emphasized that donor-advised funds and fiscal sponsorships allow foreign nationals to inject unlimited funds into U.S. political advocacy while avoiding campaign finance laws. Walter detailed how Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss used nonprofits connected to the Arabella Advisors network to influence elections, ballot initiatives, litigation and voter mobilization efforts, including spending tied to flipping control of Congress.

He also pointed to tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, describing how Singham-funded nonprofits promote narratives aligned with the Chinese Communist Party while failing to register as foreign lobbyists.

His testimony frames foreign-funded “charitable” activism as a direct substitute for regulated political spending.

In written testimony, he said, “Again, this top-down, billionaire-driven, hyperpolitical, central-government-bloating ‘philanthropy’ is the opposite of what most Americans expect our charitable sector to engage in. And if it’s undesirable when American donors produce this pseudo-philanthropy and manipulate our politics through it, it’s far worse when foreign donors are involved, because nearly all Americans reject foreign money entering our politics through any channel, much less through alleged ‘charities.’”

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Washington Examiner—Anti-ICE activists plan to install 1,000 street blockades across Minneapolis

Robert Stilson, a senior analyst at the Capital Research Center studying disruptive protests, agreed that demonstrations that devolve into criminal conduct are not constitutionally protected.

“The legitimate First Amendment rights of protesters do not extend to lawbreaking,” Stilson told the Washington Examiner. “This includes the various forms of civil disobedience that are commonly employed by street activists, such as blocking public roads.”

Any individuals obstructing traffic in violation of applicable laws should face appropriate legal consequences, Stilson said, also urging city authorities to continue clearing the obstructions as more pop up.

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Washington Examiner—Embattled labor secretary has history of questionable spending that eluded Congress

Mike Watson, research director at the right-of-center Capital Research Center and an expert on organized labor, shared a similar perspective.

“You’re picking from the distinct minority faction, you don’t have as much choice,” Watson said, referring to Chavez-DeRemer status as a pro-labor Republican. “There just aren’t that many choices. So maybe you do background vetting and find that somebody like Chavez-DeRemer has some issues, but, well, who else am I going to pick? Somebody who’s actually conservative?”

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The Free Press (paywall)—A Dark Money Group That Backed Kamala Harris Faces Questions over a Giant Donation: Tax experts and conservatives say the $37.5 million grant raises concerns about voter registration efforts during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Fidelity’s tax return also shows a grant of $24.2 million to the Voter Registration Project, also known as Everybody Votes. In 2023, the group was accused in a report by the Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank, of flouting its nonprofit status by leading a campaign that registered 5.1 million voters, who helped Biden win in 2020. The executive director of Everybody Votes called the accusation “nefarious and blatantly false.”

The criticism led some Republican state lawmakers in Michigan to ask the Justice Department for an investigation of left-leaning voter registration groups highlighted in the report “to determine the extent of their involvement in illegal electioneering activities and fraudulent voter registration efforts.” A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment, and Everybody Votes didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, said the $37.5 million that Bright Future Fund received from Fidelity “is further proof of the left’s shameless abuse of ‘charities’ for partisan get-out-the-vote work.”

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Energy in Depth—House Ways & Means Committee Spotlights Foreign Funding in U.S. Litigation

Witnesses also highlighted the role of Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest in financing litigation campaigns against American companies.

Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, pointed to filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act showing that an American law firm representing environmental groups in plastics litigation is acting on behalf of a foreign charity linked to Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation:

“One Australian billionaire funded a foreign charity to pay an American law firm to represent four tax-exempt environmentalist groups in a lawsuit against a major U.S. energy company. … The law firm representing the nonprofits (Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy) was required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Materials accompanying that registration disclosed that the firm was acting on behalf of an Australian charity called the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund.

“… The Fund’s contract with its lawyers revealed the Fund ‘views litigation as a means to achieve environmental objectives’ and that the lawsuit’s ultimate goal was ‘to bring positive change to the plastics industry.’ So in classic lawfare fashion, this litigation was launched to achieve a political objective without the trouble of going through the democratic process. And who made an end run around American democracy? A foreign national billionaire, the Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who endowed the $10 billion Minderoo Foundation, which in turn, the FARA registration reveals, controls the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund.”

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The LaGrande Observer (Union County, Oregon)— Letter to the Editor: Just who is Union County Unite?

The “Indivisible” website lists Union County Unite, along with Social Justice Advocates (Pendleton) and Indivisible Baker City, as affiliates of the tax-exempt organization. According to Influence Watch, a watchdog group that tracks non-profits, Indivisible was formed to resist the policies of President Donald Trump.

From the Influence Watch website:

“Indivisible’s most prominent allies include the Democratic Socialists of America, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood, the Working Families Party, and the Tides Foundation.

“Indivisible oversees its member groups by requiring them to register with Indivisible to be eligible for the reimbursement of costs associated with anti-Trump protests.”

According to Influence Watch, the ICE Out For Good Coalition organized a series of protests this month in multiple cities to demonstrate against U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Indivisible is listed as a member organization of the coalition.

As of 2023, Indivisible has received $8 million from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and its sister organizations, and more than $3 million from Tides Nexus, according to Influence Watch.

As described by Influence Watch, Indivisible Action is the political action arm of Indivisible.

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Fox News Channel—Teachers union president calls Trump a ‘dictator’ on unearthed call with Antifa-linked group: The webinar was hosted by a far-left activist organization with Soros ties

In a letter to Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the committee wrote, “Of particular concern, OSF has donated ‘at least $2 million’ to the Sunrise Movement, a group closely connected to Antifa. According to the Capital Research Center report, the Sunrise Movement ‘endorsed and solicited financial support for the Antifa-associated anarchist terrorists of the Stop Cop City / Defend the Atlanta Forest coalition’ which, in 2023, violently attacked law enforcement officers and utility workers constructing a training facility near Atlanta, Georgia for police officers and firefighters. During the siege, Antifa terrorists threw Molotov cocktails, bricks, and rocks at law enforcement officers, attempted to blind officers by shining lasers in their eyes, and set construction equipment and a police car on fire, among numerous other violent acts. Prosecutors later charged more than individuals with domestic terrorism due to the attacks.”

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Frontlines TPUSA (Talking Points USA)—

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The Sporting News—Donald Trump-Robert Kraft relationship, explained: How the US President and Patriots owner are connected

Kraft has not declared himself either a Democrat or Republican, but he has donated significant amounts of money to Democrats over the years. NESN found that Kraft donated more to Democratic PACs than any other NFL owner from 2008-14, and Influence Watch reported that records show Kraft has “donated almost exclusively to Democrats.”

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Breitbart: Exclusive: White House Rips Soros-Backed Human Rights Watch for Attacking Trump While Opposing Peace Deals

According to InfluenceWatch, HRW has received substantial funding from left-wing foundations, including Open Society Foundations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Soros said Open Society Foundations would commit $100 million to HRW over a 10-year period back in 2010.

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Townhall—Leftist Judge Appointed by Biden Is the Latest Activist to Block Trump’s Immigration Enforcement

Kasubhai is listed as a registered Democrat and endorsed by the radical leftist judicial advocacy group Alliance for Justice (AFJ). The AFJ “opposes President Donald Trump and blames his Supreme Court nominees for ruling against AFJ’s left-of-center policy initiatives. It has criticized President Trump for appointing conservative justices, and AFJ has campaigned for ‘packing’ the Supreme Court by adding additional justices to ‘dilute’ conservative influence over the Court,” according to Influence Watch.

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Fox News Channel—Far-left group with foreign ties undermining US under guise of protest, report warns: House Ways and Means Committee set to investigate alleged ‘malign foreign influence’ in US nonprofits in Tuesday hearing

Republican lawmakers have five witnesses: Sohn; Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center; Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust; and Bruce Dubinsky, founder of Dubinsky Consulting. Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, is scheduled to speak as a witness on behalf of Democratic lawmakers.

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Fox22 (Bangor, Maine)— What to know about Tuesday’s House hearing on foreign influence in American nonprofits: ‘Follow the money’

Witnesses at the hearing will include Capital Research Center president Scott Walter, Americans for Public Trust Executive director Caitlin Sutherland, Narravance CEO Adam Sohn, Dubinsky Consulting founder Bruce Dubinsky and Public Citizen co-founder Robert Weissman.

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News Beyond Detroit—Far-left group with foreign ties undermining US under guise of protest, report warns

The Tuesday hearing will feature testimony from multiple experts focused on malign foreign influence and nonprofit transparency.

With a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives, Republican lawmakers have five witnesses: Sohn; Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center; Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust; and Bruce Dubinsky, founder of Dubinsky Consulting. Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, is scheduled to speak as a witness on behalf of Democratic lawmakers.

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NTD Television—House Committee Holds Hearing to Examine Foreign Influence in American Nonprofits: The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing titled “Foreign Influence in American Non-profits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond” to examine foreign influence on U.S. nonprofit organizations and related threats from China and other countries.

The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing titled “Foreign Influence in American Non-profits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond” at 10 a.m. ET on Feb. 10 to examine foreign influence on U.S. nonprofit organizations and related threats from China and other countries.

Witnesses:

Scott Walter, president, Capital Research Center

Caitlin Sutherland, executive director, Americans for Public Trust

Adam Sohn, co-founder of NCRI and CEO of Narravance

Bruce Dubinsky, founder, Dubinsky Consulting

Robert Weissman, co-president, Public Citizen