Trump’s war on the left: Inside the plan to investigate liberal groups

By Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Jeff Mason, Tim Reid and Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's threatened crackdown on the finances and activities of liberal non-profits and groups opposed to his agenda is a multi-agency effort with top White House aide Stephen Miller playing a central role, according to officials.

The Trump administration plans to deploy America's counter-terrorism apparatus - including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department - as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department against certain left-wing groups it accuses of funding and organizing political violence, the officials said.

The effort marks an escalation in the administration's efforts to target domestic opponents, raising alarm among civil rights groups and Democratic leaders about the use of executive power.

Reuters spoke to three White House officials, four Department of Homeland Security officials and one Justice Department official to produce the first comprehensive account of how decisions are being made, forces deployed, and operations coordinated in the crackdown.

All of the administration officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations more freely.

Miller is deeply involved in reviewing government agencies' investigations into the financial networks behind what the administration labels "domestic terror networks," which include nonprofits and even educational institutions, a White House official said.

The Trump administration has released some examples of what it alleges are incidents of left-wing violence, but it has provided little evidence of a 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," the White House said in a statement to Reuters.

Miller did not respond to a request for comment.

'ANTI-AMERICANISM, ANTI-CAPITALISM AND ANTI-CHRISTIANITY'

Two weeks after the September 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump issued a presidential memorandum directing the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to focus on "domestic terrorists" whose common ideologies include "anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity."

Trump's opponents say the focus on liberal and left-wing groups ignores violence by right-wing organizations. They point to the January 6, 2021, violence by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol who sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has pardoned most of those convicted of violence that day.

While Trump has frequently blamed violence on left-wing groups, a second White House official noted that the president's directive does not mention them specifically and is aimed at disrupting organized political violence before it occurs.

The official said the "focus remains on violence and illegal activity," and that left-wing groups are free to protest within the bounds of the law.

Trump's sweeping crackdown on migrants has triggered confrontations in U.S. cities between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and protesters, including Los Angeles and Chicago. Trump and Miller have claimed protests in which sporadic violence occurs are evidence of domestic terrorism.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Miller asserted that protesters were engaged in a "continuum of violence" that was part of a larger conspiracy to disrupt federal operations.

WHICH GROUPS ARE TARGETED?

When pressed by a Reuters reporter in the Oval Office on September 25 about potential targets of a domestic terrorism probe, Trump mentioned George Soros - a Democratic donor whose charitable network supports civil rights, education, democracy and other causes - and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of the online professional networking platform LinkedIn and another Democratic mega-donor.

The president did not present evidence of wrongdoing. "If they are funding these things, they're going to have some problems. Because they're agitators and they're anarchists," Trump said.

Hoffman, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Soros' network of charitable foundations pushed back against the president's assertions.

"Neither George Soros nor the Open Society Foundations fund protests, condone violence, or foment it in any way. Claims to the contrary are false," the spokesperson said.

In response to a separate request, the White House highlighted seven political protests in 2023 and 2025 that included acts of violence directed against law enforcement officials, and two incidents of vandalism at Tesla dealerships this year as well as half a dozen social media posts celebrating the damage.

It named nine liberal groups, donors or fundraising organizations that it said helped finance or plan protests where the violent incidents occurred.

While the second White House official stressed that the organizations were not necessarily potential targets, the material provides insight into the administration's thinking.

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.

"The goal is to destabilize Soros’ network," a third White House official said.

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.

Angelica Salas, the executive director of CHIRLA, said the group advocates peaceful engagement. “The Trump Administration continues to spread misinformation and false allegations," she said in a statement. "But it will not work."

Other groups on the list include two Jewish nonprofits that oppose Israel's war in Gaza - IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. IfNotNow declined to comment, while Jewish Voice for Peace did not respond to a request for comment.

TRUMP'S DIRECTIVES CAUSE CONFUSION

Miller is taking a "hands-on" role in investigating the funding of nonprofits and educational institutions and is sharing recommendations from Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with Trump and other top advisers, the first White House official said.

The official said Miller is Trump's chief adviser on the issue and is receiving regular updates from the joint terrorism task force - a coalition of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism.

A DOJ official declined to elaborate on task force plans but said the FBI's role includes analyzing financial networks for funding of activities involving violent crime.

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.

"We will continue to get to the bottom of who is funding these organizations," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.

Investigating the groups' funding and potentially stripping them of tax-exempt status could force some of them to close down, civil liberty groups say.

Trump last month also signed an executive order designating the anti-fascist movement antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, despite the group's decentralized nature and lack of formal structure.

At an event with conservative commentators and influencers on Wednesday, Trump requested participants to name groups and funders they claim carry out violence, effectively crowdsourcing potential targets in real time. He then vowed to pursue these groups.

The White House also released a list of more than a dozen incidents dating back to 2016 that it alleged were perpetrated by antifa.

A Justice Department 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."

Trump's twin directives on domestic political violence have caused confusion; lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security are scrambling to figure out how to implement them legally, according to two DHS officials not authorized to speak publicly.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the agency was "fully and faithfully" implementing Trump's directive.

Unlike with international terror groups, there is no legal mechanism to designate a U.S. group with no foreign ties a terrorist organization, legal experts told Reuters.

One of the two DHS officials said many intelligence analysts who used to work on domestic terrorism investigations have taken buyouts as part of Trump's push to cut the size and cost of government, further complicating efforts to target left-wing groups.

Still, ICE in recent weeks directed some investigative agents to focus on domestic terrorism, two ICE officials said. One of the officials said it was part of a broader push to redirect resources to focus on domestic terrorism.

The push against domestic groups and their donors comes amid Trump's attacks on law firms, universities and the media, and his deployment of National Guard troops to some Democratic-run cities.

Democrats and civil society watchdogs say the move is intended to silence opposition, in addition to seeking retribution against his perceived personal political enemies.

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.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Jeff Mason, Tim Reid, and Ted Hesson in Washington. Additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Marisa Taylor. Editing by Ross Colvin and Suzanne Goldenberg)