After weeks of anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the country, Republican lawmakers are increasingly demanding investigations into “dark money” groups that could be illegally funding student activism.
The protests at Columbia University, George Washington University, UCLA and others had clear similarities: rows of colorful tents containing new sleeping bags and well-coordinated meals for protesters.
Equally clear is where these college-age students got these supplies from: the Democratic mega-donors 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 Camp’ lasted weeks before NYPD raided the tent-filled camp and arrested hundreds of activists.
Within days of the Columbia University camp appearing, other pro-Gaza tent cities began appearing at universities in other parts of the country, such as at UCLA, as shown above.
More than 100 tents were counted at the pro-Palestinian camp at George Washington University, which eventually grew to such a point that tents spilled over the city streets of DC.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told DailyMail.com that nonprofits funding pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses could be illegal.
“It’s probably not a coincidence that [Biden’s] Donors are funding these riots and now he’s out there liberating the State of Israel… saying he’s not even going to let Israel buy weapons.’
“They are using a network of dark money groups, supposed non-profit groups, that probably violates the law.”
“I mean, you can’t use a 501(c)(3) or a 501(c)(4) to fund illegal activity under the law, and these groups know what they’re doing.”
The Missouri Republican is so skeptical of ‘dark money’ groups behind protest funding that he sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this week asking him to investigate.
“This pattern is disturbing,” he wrote to Garland about the wave of campus protests, adding that “it is also almost certainly illegal.”
In his letter, he referred to a report which found that Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow (INN), two pro-Palestinian advocacy groups, were important forces in supporting the university protests, particularly those at Columbia University.
According to the report, JVP and INN received financial funding from Democratic supporter George Soros’ Tides Foundation.
The groups also reportedly had support from David Rockefeller’s Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Other pro-Palestinian groups involved in the campus protests received funding from Democratic donors Susan and Nick Pritzker, the heirs to the Hyatt hotel empire, who had previously donated to President Biden, the report states.
‘So we need to find out who signs the checks? Has the law been broken? And you know Biden should comment on this,” Hawley said. “I mean his biggest donors are funding these riots and violence.”
A person stands among tents set up at a camp of pro-Palestinian protesters on the UCLA campus.
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 Senate Republican caucus, including leaders, also want to investigate the money flowing into protesters’ coffers.
‘I agree with him. I think we need to find out,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told DailyMail.com. “The American people have a right to know.”
“This isn’t just a couple of students who have gotten together spontaneously,” he continued. “This is well-funded, organized and deliberative and it is an attack on our rights.”
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., told DailyMail.com that people “absolutely” want the funding behind the college protests to be investigated, adding that “the American people are outraged.”
He said “the same funding source and the same billionaires who bankroll the Senate Democrats’ campaigns” are paying for protesters’ tents, sleeping bags and meals.
“Funding for the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and anti-American protests that took place at universities across the country, much of the funding came from Joe Biden and major Democratic donors,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a news conference Thursday, referencing 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 not so eager to investigate who is funding 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 this is not some kind of popular movement or anything like that.”
Fetterman, who has largely split with his party over its staunch support for Israel, mentioned how he too has been targeted by pro-Gaza groups.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said he doesn’t care who is funding the protests despite being targeted by some of the groups supported by ‘dark money’ groups.
“The same type of organizations, JVP and INN, were the same ones that were holding protests in front of my office in Philadelphia, and people are paying these types of organizations to organize these things.”
“That’s not a grassroots spontaneous situation, of course.”
JVP, INN and the Tides Foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.