CodePink's Medea Benjamin confirms getting 'serious' Treasury Department query over Cuba trip

By Fox News · Fox News

CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin publicly confirmed for the first time that her organization received an inquiry from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), seeking detailed information about its March trip to Cuba. The inquiry, which is often called an administrative subpoena, comes as the Trump administration signals a broad effort to increase federal scrutiny of nonprofit organizations operating in foreign-policy and activist spaces. Last October, after the murder of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to strengthen enforcement against nonprofit entities that facilitate support for political violence. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced that message this week, arguing that nonprofit organizations and fiscal sponsors can't shield themselves from legal accountability when resources, funding, organizational infrastructure or grants are used to support unlawful activity and political violence. "We’ve made substantial progress, and I think in the weeks and months ahead, we’re going to have a lot to report," Bessent responded to a question in the White House press gallery. He said, for example, that under new changes, the IRS will "demand that nonprofits know their grant recipients." FEDS SUBPOENA HASAN PIKER, MEDEA BENJAMIN OVER CUBA TRIPS "So, if a grant recipient is violent, if they are suppressing people’s rights, then you are responsible for that," Bessent said. "I think that’s a very good first step." The shift reflects a growing administration focus on whether nonprofit networks are exercising sufficient oversight over the projects, activists and international campaigns they sponsor. Against that backdrop, the inquiry by the Office of Foreign Assets Control into the Cuba convoy fits within an effort by Treasury officials to examine whether activist organizations are complying with laws and other federal restrictions, such as sanctions laws. Speaking on camera in a video promote…