Stephen Miller has been named by multiple White House officials as the orchestrator behind the Trump administration’s deployment of anti-terrorist agencies against liberal groups and their finances, accusing them of funding and organizing political violence.
Reuters has the extensive report, speaking to three White House officials, four Department of Homeland Security officials and one Justice Department official, all remaining anonymous in order to speak more freely.
Miller was named as the megalomaniac planning to deploy the FBI, the DHS, and the DOJ — as well as the IRS and the Treasury Department — against certain left-wing groups it accuses of funding and organizing political violence, those officials said.
These government agencies will be investigating the financial networks behind various nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions they are labeling “domestic terror networks.”
The White House issued a statement to Reuters, claiming without evidence of any coordinated effort:
“Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more.”
Trump and Miller have claimed protests in which sporadic violence occurs are evidence of domestic terrorism.
The Targets
George Soros, whose charitable network supports civil rights, education, democracy and other causes; Reid Hoffman, co-founder of the online professional networking platform LinkedIn; and another Democratic mega-donor.
“The goal is to destabilize Soros’ network,” one official stated.
- “Neither George Soros nor the Open Society Foundations fund protests, condone violence, or foment it in any way. Claims to the contrary are false,” a Soros spokesperson said. Hoffman’s spokesperson declined to comment.
The list includes Soros’ Open Society Foundations; ActBlue, the funding arm of the Democratic Party; Indivisible, a grassroots coalition opposed to Trump policies and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based group. Also listed were two Jewish nonprofits opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza.
- Ezra Levin, a spokesperson for Indivisible, said the group has never organized or called for violence. “These smears are designed to delegitimize our movement,” he said.
- Carter Christensen, an ActBlue spokesperson, said Trump’s crackdown was an attempt to silence dissent. “We take our legal and civic responsibilities seriously,” he said.
Potential tools to defund or shut down these groups include IRS investigations to strip them of tax-exempt status; criminal probes by the Justice Department and FBI; surveillance by federal law enforcement agencies; the use of RICO statutes typically used for organized crime and financial investigations under anti-terror laws to identify donors and funders, according to people familiar with investigations and public statements by officials.
Civil liberties groups say the investigations could strip them of nonprofit tax status and therefore force closure.
The White House also listed 16 incidents dating back to 2016 that they claim were perpetrated by antifa.
A DOJ spokesperson said the agency will prosecute “those who participate in antifa’s criminal acts – including those who fund, supply, and enable these criminals to commit violence and destruction.”
Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian and former director of the Richard Nixon presidential library, said Trump and Nixon were similar in their desire to punish political enemies and silence critics, but a pliant Republican-controlled Congress and a cabinet packed with loyalists are enabling Trump to go further.
“That’s why this particular moment is more dangerous for the rule of law in the United States than the 1970s were,” Naftali said.