Congress Republicans want to target liberal donors after Charlie Kirk’s death

In wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s public killing, around two dozen Republican lawmakers are pushing for House leadership to create a new select committee that would investigate “The money, influence, and power behind the radical left’s assault on America and the rule of law.” The letter amounts to a request for subpoena power to dig into political opponents in the media and funding ecosystem that the right deems unduly hostile. 

In a letter led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the lawmakers urge House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) to “take every step to follow the money and uncover the force behind the NGOs, donors, media, public officials, and all entities driving this coordinated attack.” The lawmakers are requesting a new committee composed of members with prosecution and law enforcement backgrounds, who would have subpoena power to carry out investigations to “get to the truth behind the coordinated global network funding and fueling this attack on Americans.” 

The letter is dated Thursday, prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s identification of the suspect behind Kirk’s slaying. Law enforcement officials have yet to declare a motive for the attack as of Friday afternoon. But according to the lawmakers calling for the select committee, “The patterns are undeniable: we are witnessing a sustained breakdown of law and order, fueled not by chance, but by anti-American ideology.” 

The group says that Kirk was listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)’s “Hate Map” prior to his killing, and claims, “We have seen dangerous networks like Antifa organize, fund, and deploy sophisticated terror campaigns attacking law enforcement and destroying American cities.” It blames “radical organizations” and figures like George Soros for “funding and putting in place District Attorneys and Judges to then coordinate releasing criminals to the streets,” pointing to the recent fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska by a man with a criminal record on a Charlotte light rail car. And it links “coordinated lawlessness and disorder” to the “opening of our borders.” Donald Trump suggested on Fox News on Friday that there could be a racketeering case against Soros, who he accused without presenting evidence of funding “professional agitators” like those who heckled him at a DC restaurant.

The push follows a wave of statements from Republican officials promising consequences for people who celebrated or made light of Kirk’s death, though many of those statements are likely protected by the First Amendment. “We can no longer pretend to be bound together by shared ideals when a well-funded, vitriolic cadre of our fellow Americans and foreign interests are at war with the very values of faith in God, fidelity to our Constitution, and respect for the principles of liberty and Western Civilization that define us as Americans,” the group wrote, “including, notably, the free speech practiced and exemplified by Charlie Kirk.”