After weeks of anti-Israel protests on college campuses nationwide, Republican lawmakers are increasingly calling for investigations into “dark money” groups that could illegally fund student activism.
Protests at Columbia University, George Washington University, UCLA and more all showed clear similarities: rows of colored tents with new sleeping bags and well-coordinated meals for the protesters.
Equally clear is where these college-aged students got these supplies from: megadonors to Democrats who are supporting Biden’s reelection efforts.
“I mean, these are some of Biden’s biggest donors who are funding this,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told DailyMail.com of the ongoing protests on campus that have resulted in thousands of student arrests.
Columbia University’s ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ lasted weeks before New York police raided the tent-strewn campsite and arrested hundreds of activists
Within days of the Columbia University encampment surfacing, other pro-Gaza tent cities appeared at colleges in other parts of the country, such as at UCLA, shown above
More than 100 tents were counted at the George Washington University pro-Palestinian encampment, which eventually grew so large that large tents spread across the streets of DC.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told DailyMail.com that the nonprofits funding pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses could be illegal
‘That’s probably no coincidence [Biden’s] donors are funding this unrest and he is now cutting loose the state of Israel… saying he won’t even allow Israel to buy weapons.”
“They’re using a network of dark money groups, so-called non-profit groups, that are probably breaking the law.”
“I mean, you can’t use a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) to fund illegal activities under the law, and these groups know what they’re doing.”
The Missouri Republican is so skeptical about the “dark money” groups behind the financing of the protests that he sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this week asking him to investigate.
“This pattern is disturbing,” he wrote to Garland about the hasty protests at universities, adding, “It is almost certainly illegal as well.”
In his letter he refers to a report which showed that Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow (INN) – two pro-Palestinian advocacy groups – were major forces in supporting the university protests, especially those at Columbia University.
According to the report, JVP and INN received funding from Democratic supporter George Soros’s Tides Foundation.
The groups were also reportedly supported by David Rockefeller’s Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Other pro-Palestinian groups involved in the university protests received funding from Democratic donors Susan and Nick Pritzker — the heirs to the Hyatt hotel empire — who had previously donated money to President Biden, the report found.
“So we need to find out who’s writing the checks? Was the law broken? And you know Biden should comment on this,” Hawley said. “I mean his biggest donors are financing this unrest and violence.”
A person stands among tents set up in an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters on the UCLA campus
The George Washington University camp was broken up by DC police early Wednesday morning, leading to at least 33 arrests
And Hawley isn’t alone: Several members of the Republican Senate Assembly — including those in charge — also want to investigate the money flowing into protesters’ coffers.
‘I agree with him. I think we need to figure that out,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told DailyMail.com. “The American people have a right to know.”
“These aren’t just a few students who spontaneously got together,” he continued. “This is well-funded, organized and concerted and an attack on our rights.”
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., said the folks at DailyMail.com “absolutely” want the funding behind the college protests investigated, adding, “The American people are outraged.”
He said “the same funding source and the same billionaires who are funding the Democratic Senate campaigns” are paying for the protesters’ tents, sleeping bags and meals.
“The funding for the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-American protests that are happening at universities across the country, much of the funding came from Joe Biden and the Democrats’ biggest donors,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R- Texas. a press conference on Thursday, citing the same report as Hawley.
“What’s happening on campus is happening because the Democratic base wants it to happen,” he continued.
Democrats, however, were reluctant to investigate who funded the protesters.
“I don’t really care who pays for it,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., told DailyMail.com. “But it’s very clear that it’s not some kind of grassroots movement or anything.”
Fetterman, who is largely divided with his party over his staunch support of Israel, talked about how he too has been targeted by pro-Gaza groups.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said he doesn’t care who funds the protests, despite being targeted by some of the groups backed by “dark money” groups
“The same kind of organizations, the JVP and INN, were the same ones that protested in front of my office in Philadelphia, and people pay these kinds of organizations to organize these things.”
“That is certainly not a spontaneous situation from the base.”
JVP, INN and the Tides Foundation did not immediately return requests for comment.