AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Following Charlie Kirk’s murder, prominent Republicans are calling for investigations into progressive organizations, drawing comparisons to the McCarthy era. The White House vows to “dismantle and destroy” these networks, while House members seek a select committee to investigate the “radical left.” They allege a coordinated attack, linking unrelated incidents. Targeted organizations deny any contact from law enforcement and condemn the calls for investigation as baseless and fear-inducing, designed to silence dissent. Critics highlight a bill that will allow the US secretary of state to revoke passports to American citizens accused of supporting terrorism.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
The president, vice-president and members of Congress have begun calling for the government to investigate progressive organizations in the wake of the Charlie Kirk murder, in terms those targeted say are reminiscent of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the “red scare” of the 1950s.
The posture is being echoed by members of his administration.
“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the DoJ, Homeland Security, and throughout this government, to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks,” said Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, speaking to Vice-President JD Vance while Vance guest-hosted Kirk’s podcast Monday. “We will do it in Charlie’s name.”
The day after Kirk’s murder, 22 members of the House Freedom Caucus sent a letter to the house speaker, asking for the creation of a select committee on “the money, influence, and power behind the radical left’s assault on America and the rule of law”.
The letter, echoing commentary from the president and the right, contends that Kirk’s murder is of a pattern of “coordinated attack” by “NGOs, donors, media, public officials” and others, attempting to tie together widely distinct incidents , from the February 2024 murder of Georgia college student Laken Riley to the killing last month of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte.
None of the organizations in the letter, nor other prominent organizations on the political left, said they had been contacted by federal law enforcement or Congress in the wake of the Kirk killing. Some, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) or the Open Society Foundations – an organization closely associated with financier George Soros – have been through rounds of rightwing congressional inquiry during Trump’s first term.
“We are aware of reports calling for investigations into our founder George Soros and the work of the Open Society Foundations based on unfounded allegations,” a spokesperson at the Open Society Foundations said. “We are a human rights organization that works to strengthen American democracy and uphold the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the US constitution. Our work is in full compliance with US laws.”
Others named in the letter are preparing for fire.
“There is a real cost to these threats from elected officials and their allies with platforms,” said Jessica Brand, founder of the Wren Collective, a non-profit working on criminal justice reform. “They inflict tremendous fear and costs to those on the receiving end. People have to increase security, live with fear of future attacks, and find themselves on the receiving end of vile and terrifying threats. And that’s the goal – the purpose of these threats is to silence critics and quash dissent.”
Targeted investigations of organizations on the basis of their political values harks back to McCarthyism, the anti-communist “red scare” of the 50s, said Danaka Katovich, national co-director for Codepink, a feminist anti-war organization founded in 2002 to protest US military intervention and promote peace and social justice. Codepink went through a round of investigations before, to little effect, she said.
“They’ve launched congressional investigations over Codepink’s funding sources that their Democrat colleagues often parrot talking points from,” Katovich said. “Of course, nothing has come of these investigations besides trying to intimidate us from advocating for peace and justice.”
She added: “It’s a really critical moment for other organizations to stand in solidarity, loud and clear solidarity, with organizations facing repression. Now’s not the time for splitting hairs over smaller disagreements. If they come after one of us they will come after us all.”
But Katovich highlighted a bill proposed to grant the US secretary of state the power to revoke or refuse to issue passports to American citizens accused of material support for terrorism. The bill will have a hearing this week.
