Lawmakers Eject Activists, Probe Foreign Influence Network

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill kicked off a hearing on foreign influence with a sharp clash over protest politics, activist theater, and the reach of Neville Roy Singham’s sprawling funding network. What started as a policy hearing quickly turned into a live demonstration of the very tactics under scrutiny, with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and two other activists drawing attention from the room and the cameras.

Benjamin and the others walked into the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room wearing T-shirts backing the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba. They sat behind the witnesses in a spot that guaranteed maximum visibility, then posed for the official feed before staff and Capitol Police moved in and escorted them out.

The scene fit neatly into the hearing’s theme, which centered on how messaging, protests, and social media can be used as tools of influence. Republicans on the panel argued that the point was not just public dissent, but the way spectacle can be turned into content, fundraising fuel, and political pressure.

Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., said the behavior was less about changing policy and more about drawing attention and money. He said the pattern is to create disruption, then use it online to pull in supporters, volunteers, and donations.

Much of the hearing focused on Singham, a U.S. tech figure who lives in Shanghai and has become a major financier of far-left groups. According to reporting discussed at the hearing, Singham has pumped $278 million into a network of nonprofits, media outlets, and activist organizations that critics say echo anti-American and pro-communist messaging.

CodePink was one of the groups placed under the microscope, with lawmakers noting that it had received $1.33 million from Singham. Benjamin did not answer questions about the funding before entering the hearing room, and later defended her group as anti-war while denying that it takes direction from the Chinese Communist Party.

Mike Gonzalez of The Heritage Foundation opened with a blunt warning about what he called a “red-green” alliance, describing cooperation between far-left groups and Islamist organizations. He said money often moves through layers of intermediaries before landing with groups that stage protests and shape narratives for American audiences.

Gonzalez also tied BreakThrough News and the People’s Forum to the wider ecosystem around Singham, saying their messaging often tracks with Beijing’s interests while giving it an American activist voice. He argued that the same network shifts from issue to issue, from Gaza to Cuba to climate, but keeps pushing the same general anti-U.S. themes.

The hearing also dug into Singham’s ties to Shanghai-based institutions and what lawmakers called an overlapping web of media, academic, and cultural connections. Witnesses said those relationships help move political ideas from foreign-backed circles into domestic activism, where they look homegrown even when the messaging is carefully shaped.

Sam Lyman of the Bitcoin Policy Institute described the network as a layered operation with Chinese state media, Singham-backed nonprofits, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation all reinforcing one another. He said campaigns tied to those groups have helped stall or block data-center projects in multiple states, even while acknowledging that some local opposition comes from real concerns about cost and environmental impact.

Matthew Johnson of the Jamestown Foundation added that Beijing does not need to bark orders at every activist or institution it wants to influence. Instead, he said, it cultivates relationships and lets sympathetic voices repeat the message in their own language, whether the subject is inequality, militarization, environmental harm, or opposition to American power.

Benjamin’s removal did not end the performance. Outside the hearing room, she kept filming, moved around the hallway for a better angle, and later chased Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., with her phone rolling as the exchange unfolded.

House Democrats pushed back on the removal, arguing that wearing T-shirts was protected speech and not a disruption. But Republicans saw the whole scene as proof that the hearing had struck a nerve, especially with groups that prefer the spotlight when foreign influence and funding questions start getting uncomfortable.

Later in the day, the CodePink team clipped together a short video of the confrontation and pushed it out online, turning the episode into a polished social-media package. That quick turnaround only sharpened the hearing’s central message, since the spectacle inside the room had already been transformed into a reusable message outside it.