WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s threatened crackdown on the funds and actions of liberal non-profits and teams against his agenda is a multi-agency effort with high White Home aide Stephen Miller enjoying a central position, based on officers. The Trump administration plans to deploy America’s counter-terrorism equipment – together with the FBI, the Division of Homeland Safety and the Justice Division – in addition to the Inside Income Service and the Treasury Division towards sure left-wing teams it accuses of funding and organizing political violence, the officers mentioned.
The hassle marks an escalation within the administration’s efforts to focus on home opponents, elevating alarm amongst civil rights teams and Democratic leaders about using govt energy.
Reuters spoke to a few White Home officers, 4 Division of Homeland Safety officers and one Justice Division official to provide the primary complete account of how choices are being made, forces deployed, and operations coordinated within the crackdown.
The entire administration officers spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate inside deliberations extra freely. Miller is deeply concerned in reviewing authorities businesses’ investigations into the monetary networks behind what the administration labels “domestic terror networks,” which embody nonprofits and even academic establishments, a White Home official mentioned.
The Trump administration has launched some examples of what it alleges are incidents of left-wing violence, nevertheless it has supplied little proof of a coordinated effort.
“Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more,” the White Home mentioned in an announcement to Reuters.
Miller didn’t reply to a request for remark.
‘ANTI-AMERICANISM, ANTI-CAPITALISM AND ANTI-CHRISTIANITY’
Two weeks after the September 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump issued a presidential memorandum directing the Nationwide Joint Terrorism Job Drive to concentrate on “domestic terrorists” whose widespread ideologies embody “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity.”
Trump’s opponents say the concentrate on liberal and left-wing teams ignores violence by right-wing organizations. They level to the January 6, 2021, violence by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol who sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has pardoned most of these convicted of violence that day.
Whereas Trump has incessantly blamed violence on left-wing teams, a second White Home official famous that the president’s directive doesn’t point out them particularly and is geared toward disrupting organized political violence earlier than it happens.
The official mentioned the “focus remains on violence and illegal activity,” and that left-wing teams are free to protest throughout the bounds of the regulation. Trump’s sweeping crackdown on migrants has triggered confrontations in U.S. cities between Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers and protesters, together with Los Angeles and Chicago. Trump and Miller have claimed protests wherein sporadic violence happens are proof of home terrorism.
Chatting with reporters on Monday, Miller asserted that protesters have been engaged in a “continuum of violence” that was half of a bigger conspiracy to disrupt federal operations.
WHICH GROUPS ARE TARGETED?
When pressed by a Reuters reporter within the Oval Workplace on September 25 about potential targets of a home terrorism probe, Trump talked about George Soros – a Democratic donor whose charitable community helps civil rights, training, democracy and different causes – and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of the net skilled networking platform LinkedIn and one other Democratic mega-donor.
The president didn’t current proof of wrongdoing. “If they are funding these things, they’re going to have some problems. Because they’re agitators and they’re anarchists,” Trump mentioned.
Hoffman, by way of a spokesperson, declined to remark.
A spokesperson for Soros’ community of charitable foundations pushed again towards the president’s assertions.
“Neither George Soros nor the Open Society Foundations fund protests, condone violence, or foment it in any way. Claims to the contrary are false,” the spokesperson mentioned.
In response to a separate request, the White Home highlighted seven political protests in 2023 and 2025 that included acts of violence directed towards regulation enforcement officers, and two incidents of vandalism at Tesla dealerships this yr in addition to half a dozen social media posts celebrating the harm.
It named 9 liberal teams, donors or fundraising organizations that it mentioned helped finance or plan protests the place the violent incidents occurred.
Whereas the second White Home official careworn that the organizations weren’t essentially potential targets, the fabric offers perception into the administration’s considering.
The record contains Soros’ Open Society Foundations; ActBlue, the funding arm of the Democratic Occasion; Indivisible, a grassroots coalition against Trump insurance policies and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based group.
“The goal is to destabilize Soros’ network,” a 3rd White Home official mentioned.
Ezra Levin, a spokesperson for Indivisible, mentioned the group has by no means organized or known as for violence. “These smears are designed to delegitimize our movement,” he mentioned. Carter Christensen, an ActBlue spokesperson, mentioned Trump’s crackdown was an try and silence dissent. “We take our legal and civic responsibilities seriously,” he mentioned.
Angelica Salas, the chief director of CHIRLA, mentioned the group advocates peaceable engagement. “The Trump Administration continues to spread misinformation and false allegations,” she mentioned in an announcement. “But it will not work.”
Different teams on the record embody two Jewish nonprofits that oppose Israel’s conflict in Gaza – IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. IfNotNow declined to remark, whereas Jewish Voice for Peace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
TRUMP’S DIRECTIVES CAUSE CONFUSION
Miller is taking a “hands-on” position in investigating the funding of nonprofits and academic establishments and is sharing suggestions from Legal professional Common Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with Trump and different high advisers, the primary White Home official mentioned.
The official mentioned Miller is Trump’s chief adviser on the problem and is receiving common updates from the joint terrorism process power – a coalition of federal, state and native regulation enforcement businesses tasked with investigating terrorism.
A DOJ official declined to elaborate on process power plans however mentioned the FBI’s position contains analyzing monetary networks for funding of actions involving violent crime.
Potential instruments to defund or shut down these teams embody IRS investigations to strip them of tax-exempt standing; legal probes by the Justice Division and FBI; surveillance by federal regulation enforcement businesses; using RICO statutes sometimes used for organized crime and monetary investigations underneath anti-terror legal guidelines to determine donors and funders, based on individuals accustomed to investigations and public statements by officers.
“We will continue to get to the bottom of who is funding these organizations,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt informed reporters on Monday.
Investigating the teams’ funding and doubtlessly stripping them of tax-exempt standing might power a few of them to shut down, civil liberty teams say.
Trump final month additionally signed an govt order designating the anti-fascist motion antifa as a home terrorist group, regardless of the group’s decentralized nature and lack of formal construction.
At an occasion with conservative commentators and influencers on Wednesday, Trump
requested members to call teams and funders they declare perform violence, successfully crowdsourcing potential targets in actual time. He then vowed to pursue these teams.
The White Home additionally launched an inventory of greater than a dozen incidents relationship again to 2016 that it alleged have been perpetrated by antifa.
A Justice Division spokesperson mentioned the company will prosecute “those who participate in antifa’s criminal acts – including those who fund, supply, and enable these criminals to commit violence and destruction.”
Trump’s twin directives on home political violence have induced confusion; attorneys for the Division of Homeland Safety are scrambling to determine easy methods to implement them legally, based on two DHS officers not licensed to talk publicly.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin mentioned the company was “fully and faithfully” implementing Trump’s directive.
Anna Moneymaker through Getty Photographs
Not like with worldwide terror teams, there is no such thing as a authorized mechanism to designate a U.S. group with no international ties a terrorist group, authorized specialists informed Reuters. One of many two DHS officers mentioned many intelligence analysts who used to work on home terrorism investigations have taken buyouts as a part of Trump’s push to chop the scale and price of presidency, additional complicating efforts to focus on left-wing teams.
Nonetheless, ICE in latest weeks directed some investigative brokers to concentrate on home terrorism, two ICE officers mentioned. One of many officers mentioned it was a part of a broader push to redirect sources to concentrate on home terrorism.
The push towards home teams and their donors comes amid Trump’s assaults on regulation corporations, universities and the media, and his deployment of Nationwide Guard troops to some Democratic-run cities.
Democrats and civil society watchdogs say the transfer is meant to silence opposition, along with searching for retribution towards his perceived private political enemies.
Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian and former director of the Richard Nixon presidential library, mentioned Trump and Nixon have been comparable of their want to punish political enemies and silence critics, however a pliant Republican-controlled Congress and a cupboard filled with loyalists are enabling Trump to go additional.
“That’s why this particular moment is more dangerous for the rule of law in the United States than the 1970s were,” Naftali mentioned. (Reporting by Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Jeff Mason, Tim Reid, and Ted Hesson in Washington. Further reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Marisa Taylor. Enhancing by Ross Colvin and Suzanne Goldenberg)
