After weeks of anti-Israel protests across college campuses nationwide, GOP lawmakers are increasingly calling for investigations into ‘dark money’ groups that could be illegally funding the students’ activism.
Protests at Columbia University, George Washington University, UCLA and more all bore clear similarities: Rows of colored tents containing new sleeping bags and well-coordinated meals for the demonstrators.
Equally as clear is where these college-aged students got these supplies: Democrat mega-donors who are backing Biden’s re-election effort.
‘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 campus protests that have resulted in thousands of student arrests.
Columbia University’s ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ last for weeks before New York police raided the tent-strewn campsite and arrested hundreds of activists
Within days of the Columbia University encampment cropping up other pro-Gaza tent cities began appearing across colleges in other parts of the country, like at UCLA, shown above
Over 100 tents were counted at George Washington University’s pro-Palestinian encampment, which eventually grew so large tents spilled out onto D.C. city streets
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told DailyMail.com the nonprofits funding pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses could be illegal
‘It’s probably no coincidence that [Biden’s] donors are funding this unrest and he’s now out there now cutting the State of Israel loose … saying that he’s not even going to allow Israel to buy weapons.’
‘They are using a lattice of dark money groups, supposed nonprofit groups, that probably violates the law.’
‘I mean, you can’t use a 501(c)(3) or a 501(c)(4) to fund illegal activities under the law, and these groups, they know what they’re doing.’
The Missouri Republican is so skeptical of the ‘dark money’ groups behind the protests’ funding 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 rash of college protests, adding that ‘It is also almost certainly illegal.’
In his letter, he referenced a report which found that Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow (INN) – two pro-Palestinian advocacy groups – were major forces in supporting the college protests, particularly those at Columbia University.
According to the report, JVP and INN received financial funding from Democrat supporter George Soros’ Tides Foundation.
The groups were also reportedly supported by David Rockefeller’s Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Additional pro-Palestinian groups involved in the college protests received funding from Democratic donors Susan and Nick Pritzker – the heirs to the Hyatt hotel empire – who have previously donated to President Biden, the report indicates.
‘So we need to find out who is writing the checks? Has the law been violated? And you know Biden ought to comment on this,’ Hawley said. ‘I mean his biggest donors are funding this unrest and violence.’
A person stands among the tents set up in an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of UCLA
The George Washington University encampment was broken up by D.C. police early Wednesday morning, leading to at least 33 arrests
And Hawley is not alone, several members of the GOP Senate caucus – including those in leadership – also want to probe the money flowing into the protestors’ coffers.
‘I agree with him. I think we need to find that out,’ Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told DailyMail.com. ‘The American people have a right have a right to know.’
‘This isn’t just a couple of students who spontaneously have gotten together,’ he continued. ‘This is well-funded and organized and deliberative and an attack against our rights.’
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines, R-Mont., told DailyMail.com people ‘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 that are funding the Democrat Senate campaigns’ are paying for the protestors tents, sleeping bags and meals.
‘The funding for the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-American protests occurring at universities across the country, much of the funding came from Joe Biden and the Democrats biggest donors,’ Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at a Thursday press conference, referencing the same report as Hawley.
‘What is happening on campus is happening because the Democrat base wants it to happen,’ he continued.
Democrats, however, were not as eager to probe whose funding the protestors.
‘I don’t really care who’s paying 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 has largely split with his party over his staunch support of Israel, mentioned how he too has been targeted by the pro-Gaza groups.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said he does not care who is funding the protests despite being targeted by some of the groups found to be supported by ‘dark money’ groups
‘The same kind of organizations, the JVP and INN, were those same ones that were having protests in front of my office in Philadelphia, and people are paying these kinds of organizations to organize these things.’
‘That’s it’s not a grassroots kind of spontaneous kind of situation for sure.’
JVP, INN and the Tides Foundation did not immediately return requests for comment.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk