In brief
President Donald Trump announced a crackdown on what he termed 'left-wing terrorism,' specifically targeting Democratic donors George Soros and Reid Hoffman. The initiative aims to disrupt financial networks allegedly funding domestic political violence, a move critics label as politically motivated and an attack on free speech rights. The announcement follows violent incidents linked to protests, raising concerns over the implications of such measures.
President Donald Trump on Thursday directed his administration to crack down on backers of what he dubbed “left-wing terrorism,” naming two top Democratic donors as he alleged without evidence a vast conspiracy to finance violent protests against the government.
Trump’s directive put the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Taskforce in the lead and said the effort would span agencies across the administration, including the Treasury Department, “to identify and disrupt financial networks that fund domestic terrorism and political violence.”
The pursuit of what the president said were the funders of “agitators and anarchists” is the latest instance of Trump using the power of his office to pursue his political rivals. When pressed by a reporter to name any possible targets, he suggested two of the Democratic Party’s top donors — billionaires George Soros and Reid Hoffman.
“If they are funding these things, they’re going to have some problems,” Trump said.
Trump had threatened such an order after the assassination earlier this month of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and a shooting outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Dallas, killing one detainee and wounding two others. Authorities have identified the suspected gunmen in each case, but no information has been made public so far to suggest they were backed by a wider network.
In a statement Thursday, before Trump’s announcement, Soros’ Open Society Foundation referred to previous accusations made by the Republican president, asserting that its activities are peaceful and lawful. “These accusations are politically motivated attacks on civil society, meant to silence speech the administration disagrees with and undermine the First Amendment right to free speech,” the organizations stated.
Hoffman, who contributed to the founding of PayPal and LinkedIn, could not be reached for immediate comment.
