{"id":47255,"date":"2026-03-19T12:24:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47255"},"modified":"2026-03-19T12:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:24:02","slug":"trump-fbi-and-irs-team-up-to-probe-us-nonprofit-groups-for-domestic-terrorism-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/19\/trump-fbi-and-irs-team-up-to-probe-us-nonprofit-groups-for-domestic-terrorism-links\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump FBI and IRS Team Up to Probe US Nonprofit Groups for \u2018Domestic Terrorism\u2019 Links"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Trump<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel testifies as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard looks on during a hearing at the Longworth House Office Building on March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Kayla Bartkowski\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is repression carried out by the state for electoral purposes. It\u2019s about stamping out your objections to their autocratic aims,\u201d said one critic.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 18, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Wednesday CBS News report claimed<\/a> that the FBI<\/a> and Internal Revenue Service are \u201cforming a new initiative to investigate nonprofit organizations over suspected possible links to domestic terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to CBS News, the new initiative is the agencies\u2019 response to a December memo<\/a> written by Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> requiring the US Department of Justice<\/a> (DOJ) to compile a list of potential \u201cdomestic terrorism\u201d organizations that espouse \u201cextreme viewpoints on immigration<\/a>, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Internal<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s Leading Trump\u2019s IRS as Tax Dodgers Run Wild? Apparently No One<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Signs<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Serious Threat to the First Amendment\u2019 as Trump Admin Wins First Antifa Terror Charge<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A government official told CBS News that the FBI-IRS initiative would focus on \u201cexploring potential funding streams at nonprofits that support domestic terrorism or political violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Tom Brzozowski, former domestic terrorism counsel at the DOJ\u2019s National Security Division, told CBS News he was concerned by the broad scope of investigatory activities outlined in Bondi\u2019s memo, and he questioned whether the DOJ had established the proper predication to justify amassing a list of nonprofit groups to be targeted in a criminal probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to pull down information and retain it in a government data set, you have to have predication to do that,\u201d Brzozowski emphasized, \u201cespecially if you\u2019re looking at it through an investigative lens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bondi\u2019s December memo was written in response to National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7<\/a>), a directive signed by President Donald Trump<\/a> in September that demanded a \u201cnational strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rights groups have for months been sounding the alarm<\/a> about the implications of NSPM-7, which they said could be used to initiative a widespread crackdown against the Trump administration\u2019s critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Melanie D\u2019Arrigo, executive director of Campaign for New York Health, wrote<\/a> that news of the FBI-IRS initiative was a \u201cperiodic reminder that Trump\u2019s DOJ changed the indicators of domestic terrorism to include pro-immigrant, pro-LBTQ, anti-Trump, and anti-capitalist speech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Marcy Wheeler wrote<\/a> that the FBI\u2019s initiative with the IRS shows it\u2019s \u201ctrying to criminalize dissent over protecting against Islamic and antisemitic terrorism that Trump has stoked with his illegal war\u201d against Iran.
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Diego Fonseca noted<\/a> that going after nonprofit groups has long been a hallmark of authoritarian regimes seeking to consolidate power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Salvadoran President Nayib] Bukele has treated nongovernmental organizations as \u2018foreign agents,\u2019\u201d Fonseca observed<\/a>, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orb\u00e1n \u201chas a \u2018Transparency Law\u2019 targeting civil society orgs. Left or right, it\u2019s the authoritarian playbook: round up and paralyze any possible criticism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt Ortega, a Democrat running to represent California\u2019s 14th Congressional District in the US House<\/a> of Representatives, warned<\/a> that the FBI-IRS initiative was a sign of a widespread crackdown against political opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey called Alex Pretti a \u2018domestic terrorist\u2019 and only backtracked because witnesses had NFL-like coverage of the incident,\u201d Ortega wrote. \u201cThis is repression carried out by the state for electoral purposes. It\u2019s about stamping out your objections to their autocratic aims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel testifies as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard looks on during a hearing at the Longworth House Office Building on March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski\/Getty Images) \u201cThis is repression carried out by the state for electoral purposes. It\u2019s… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47255"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47256,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47255\/revisions\/47256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}