WASHINGTON, D.C. – CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and two fellow agitators entered the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room 2272 today, wearing camera-ready T-shirts supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba, turning themselves into a live demonstration of the "Trojan horses" for foreign influence that lawmakers had gathered to examine. At 2:39 p.m., about 30 minutes into the hearing's start, after Benjamin carefully photographed their T-shirt slogans appearing on the TV screen behind the witnesses, staffers on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia had had enough, and Capitol Hill police officers escorted Benjamin and her fellow agitators out of the room, as they protested their ejection for staging their trademark CodePink antics. For lawmakers, CodePink’s camera-conscious performance underscored the central point of the hearing: that protest theater, messaging and social-media content can function as parts of foreign influence operations.
"It's really about theatrics," Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., later told Fox News Digital. "They're using it not to affect policy, but really to enrich themselves because they use that then to go out on social media, to try to whip other people up, to help donations, to help get volunteers, help get some of those other folks, and to really try to go and disrupt our – not just our sense of government and processing government – but society." HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE FOREIGN ‘TROJAN HORSES’ AS SINGHAM SCRUTINY WIDENS The hearing, "Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America," focused on the network of nonprofits, media outlets and activist groups that are promoting the interests of foreign governments and pro-communist ideologues, like Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. tech tycoon who lives in Shanghai, supporting the Chinese Communist Party. According to a Fox News Digital investigation, Singham has pumped $278 million into a far-left network of groups that have pushed anti-America, pro-China propaganda, including CodePink, which has received $1.33 million from Singham.
Outside the hearing room, Benjamin refused to answer questions from Fox News Digital about the Singham funding, and instead slipped into the hearing room with her fellow activists and positioned themselves behind the witnesses in seats that get maximum TV exposure. Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, spotted Benjamin immediately and, in a tense back-and-forth with her, said "I’m telling Medea Benjamin that she should try to stop shilling for a communist tyranny." Standing on the committee hearing room floor, Benjamin defended herself as "anti-war," and denied any direction from the Chinese Communist Party. CUBA BUILT COVERT NETWORK INSIDE AMERICA THROUGH SPIES, ACTIVISTS AND UNIVERSITIES, STATE DEPT ALLEGES During opening remarks, Huizenga took direct aim at actors he said are tied to U.S. adversaries attempting to influence the American public, including Singham, CodePink and Marxist influencer Hasan Piker.
"We are here today because America’s adversaries – China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia – are conducting covert influence campaigns to shape American thought and society through lies and censorship. These countries have one shared goal: to weaken the United States of America," Huizenga "A prominent example of these adversary efforts is Neville Roy Singham, who lives in China and uses his wealth and relationships with the CCP to provide millions of dollars and personnel to extremist groups like CodePink, the People’s Forum, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation to destabilize American society and promote communist ideology," he continued. A hub for pro-communist organizing in New York City, People’s Forum has received $22.44 million from Singham.
The first to testify, Gonzalez said a "red-green" alliance of far-left groups working with Islamist organizations channel money through intermediary organizations and donor funds before directing funds toward U.S.-based groups that organize protests and produce political messaging. Gonzalez pointed to Cuba and China’s influence operations as the basis of a "sustained campaign of subversion against the United States." He described BreakThrough News as a media platform that amplifies demonstrations and promotes narratives aligned with Beijing, while arguing that the network’s causes — including Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, the environment and social justice — provide a constantly changing set of rallying points. BreakThrough BT Media runs BreakThrough News and has received $1.098 million from Singham, according to Fox News Digital’s reporting.
The testimony also focused on Singham’s connections in Shanghai. Gonzalez cited research saying Singham shares premises with Maku Cultural Communication, a Chinese communications firm that promotes a favorable image of China, and was photographed attending a Chinese Communist Party strategic communications workshop in 2023. Gonzalez also pointed to connections between Singham-funded organizations and Chinese state-linked academic and media institutions.
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