Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has launched major attacks against the constitutionally protected right to free speech, particularly honing in on those who advocate in solidarity with Palestine. Student activists such as Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Rumeysa Ozturk continue to languish in ICE detention centers, and the Trump administration has only escalated attacks on pro-Palestine students at institutions such as Harvard.
Several conservative lawmakers seek to expand such attacks against free speech even further. Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called on the Trump administration to investigate anti-imperialist and left-wing movement organizations CODEPINK and the People’s Forum. Grassley accuses the organizations of “reported connections with the communist Chinese government” and “advancing policies in favor of the communist Chinese government”.
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, Grassley asks what the Department of Justice has done to assess whether the two organizations must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), “given their reported connections with the communist Chinese government,” and asks if the DOJ has investigated the “ongoing covered political activity,” of the two organizations.
The People’s Forum has responded to these accusations, writing that “the allegations of Chinese government funding are not only false but part of a dangerous escalation to crush dissent, target activists, and silence peace and anti-war movements.” In a post on X, Senator Grassley claimed that “not only r activist groups Code Pink&The People’s Forum a menace to the ppl’s bizness they’re also mouthpieces of the Chinese Communist Party who masquerade as activists.”
As evidence of these claims, Grassley’s letter references an article published in the New York Times, which accused a variety of left-wing projects around the world of having ties to the Communist Party of China. One of those accused was Indian left-wing media project Newsclick, which the article claimed “sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points.” This article was heavily circulated by India’s right-wing ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the accusations in the article led to the government raid on the offices of Newsclick on October 3 of 2023 and the imprisonment of NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha for eight months under a draconian anti-terrorism law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Grassley’s accusations can also be understood in the context of the Trump administration’s attacks on free speech. The People’s Forum connects Grassley’s April 16 letter to “a broader assault by the Trump administration on democratic rights,” including “the arrest of students protesting the Gaza genocide, the revocation of over a thousand student visas, and intimidation of universities.” Both the People’s Forum and CODEPINK have been leading organizations in the Palestine solidarity movement in the US.
