WASHINGTON — Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is calling on the Trump administration to strip lefty activist group CodePink of its tax-exempt status over its alleged funding connections to the Chinese Communist Party and potentially other US adversaries like Cuba.
Scott wrote a letter to IRS Commissioner Frank Bisignano on Wednesday, saying that the 501(c)(3) educational group has “long been connected to shady characters, acted inappropriately, and
seemingly broken the rules and standards established for non-profit entities.”
“The American people have a right to expect that the substantial privileges associated with tax-exempt status are reserved for organizations that operate independently and in furtherance of legitimate charitable, educational, and public interest purposes,” Scott wrote in the missive.
For years, the rowdy cabal of pink-clad feminist agitators have disrupted congressional hearings and badgered lawmakers all over Capitol Hill in protest of American support of Israel, among other issues.
The Florida Republican argued that CodePink has been running afoul of its nonprofit eligibility by lobbying members of Congress publicly and privately by pushing propaganda about the CCP — including through its denials about the widely reported use of forced labor in Xinjiang Province.
“While this connection to the CCP is concerning and warrants its own investigation, CodePink’s day-to-day activities raise questions about its eligibility as a 501(c)(3) organization,” the senator wrote.
Under IRS rules, 501(c)(3)s are restricted from engaging in “too much lobbying activity” to maintain their tax-exempt status.
“CodePink’s own website details how it was founded for the express purpose of lobbying Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress to ‘break with the party leadership’ during the Iraq War,” Scott recalled.
“The organization has never ceased lobbying Congress, boasting that it has ‘become famous for confronting the warmongers, in the halls and hearing rooms of Congress, the national conventions of both the Republicans and Democrats, political fundraisers, and in the streets,’” he added, citing the group’s website.
Scott also raised concerns about the group’s alleged ties to China. It was co-founded by the wife of tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, a billionaire and Chinese Communist Party sympathizer, who has sponsored CodePink protests in the past.
This includes a Times Square demonstration opposing the US war with Iran. Singham, an American expat living in China, has faced accusations of working with Beijing’s propaganda machine.
The House Ways and Means Committee has also been probing CCP links to the CodePink funder.
Recently, the pink disruptor group was hit with federal subpoenas related to a March trip to Cuba, amid concerns about possible sanctions evasion.
Specifically, the Treasury Department is probing CodePink. Several of its leaders — including Medea Benjamin — stayed at a five-star hotel in Havana in March, ostensibly to provide humanitarian aid, though it’s unclear the degree to which they coordinated with the Cuban government.
“We brought desperately needed medicines and medical supplies at a time when Cuba is suffering catastrophic shortages caused by the crippling U.S. blockade,” Benjamin said in an earlier statement. “We stayed in hotels explicitly permitted under U.S. regulations: Spanish-owned hotels approved for U.S. travelers.”
The Post contacted the IRS and CodePink for comment.
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