US Uncovering Financial Networks Behind Domestic Terrorism, Bessent Says

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The United States is in the process of compiling a list of organizations, including nonprofits, that could be funding domestic terror activities, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an Oct. 14 interview on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”

“We believe people have a right to free speech. They have a right to organize. They have a right to protest. But they have to do it peacefully. They cannot embrace violence. And we have seen it, we have seen it since the terrible day two years ago, the anti-Semitism and the bias that came out after October 7th, 2023. And many of these organizations have been financed by nonprofits. And it’s going to stop. And we are going to, as they always say, follow the money,” he said in the interview, responding to a question regarding financial networks supporting radical left violent groups.

The Treasury has already started to put together a list of such funding networks, Bessent said, adding that this was a “long record.” Moreover, it remains to be uncovered how much of the funding comes from overseas and how much is being supported by U.S. nonprofits, he said.

According to Bessent, this is now “mission critical” for the department.

“So Charlie’s death has set this off. And we are determined not only to honor him, but to keep our country safe and to ensure freedom of speech on both sides,” he said.

“As conservatives, we can’t be afraid to go out and speak. I know people are canceling speeches. They’re having to bring down the size of the rallies. President Trump was millimeters away from death. And he was not deterred. And we’re not going to be deterred.”

In an Oct. 14 X post, sharing a video clip of the podcast, Bessent said that just as the Treasury led the effort to track terror financing following 9/11, it will follow the money behind violent domestic networks to expose terrorists and bring such people to justice.

Bessent’s statements follow a presidential memorandum signed by President Donald Trump on Sept. 25 aimed at countering domestic terrorism and organized political violence.

The memorandum establishes a comprehensive strategy to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle” all stages of such activities, the White House said in a Sept. 25 fact sheet.

The order instructs the Treasury secretary to identify and disrupt financial networks deemed to be funding political violence and domestic terrorism. It also asks the IRS commissioner to make sure that tax-exempt entities do not fund such activities directly or indirectly.

“The guidance will also identify behaviors, fact patterns, and recurrent motivations common to organizations and entities that coordinate these acts in order to stop political violence before it occurs,” said the fact sheet.

On Sept. 22, Trump designated Antifa, a far-left extremist group known for committing politically motivated violence, as a domestic terrorist organization via an executive order. He called the group a “militarist, anarchist enterprise.”

In a Sept. 25 statement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticized the presidential memorandum, accusing it of targeting political opponents.

It said the memo authorizes the government to conduct investigations into nonprofits, donors, and activists using “vague and overbroad labels” such as “conspiracy against rights” and “terrorism.”

Hina Shamsi, the director of ACLU’s National Security Project, said the memo was another effort by Trump to intimidate critics.

“The President is invoking political violence, which we all condemn, as an excuse to target non-profits and activists with the false and stigmatizing label of ‘domestic terrorism.’ This is a shameful and dangerous move. But the President cannot rewrite the Constitution by memo,” Shamsi said.

“Intimidation tactics against those standing up for human rights and civil liberties are sadly not new in the history of this country. In an earlier era, civil rights movement leaders were also labeled security threats and investigated, monitored, threatened, and even arrested.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Oct. 9 seeking a Department of Justice investigation into the potential role of George Soros-backed groups in funding political violence and far-left extremist activities in the United States.

In the letter, Carter cited a report from the Capital Research Center, a think tank, which said that since 2016, Soros’s Open Society Foundations had poured in more than $80 million into groups linked to extremist violence or terrorism.

“The funding of organizations that engage in, support, or incite political violence must not be tolerated,” the lawmaker wrote.