New evidence has prompted the Trump administration to intensify its investigation into the funding behind left-wing riots that have erupted in Los Angeles and other cities across the country.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revealed last week that the U.S. Department of Justice is probing anonymous online job postings that offered individuals hundreds of dollars to attend pro-immigration protests in Los Angeles—some of which escalated into violent clashes and widespread property destruction.
In a Wednesday interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Gabbard said federal authorities are actively tracing the financial trail behind the unrest. She also accused California Governor Gavin Newsom of enabling the chaos by refusing to act, claiming he was “doing the bidding of Mexico’s drug cartels” until President Donald Trump intervened.
“Whether he knows it or not, he is, certainly,” she said of Newsom. “Again, this is something that the Department of Justice and the FBI is looking into — who is funding these protesters. We’ve seen the ads put up on Craigslist offering people thousands of dollars a week to go out and conduct these violent and dangerous riots in the streets of not only Los Angeles, but we saw earlier in Chicago, New York, and other cities across the country,” she added.
The Associated Press previously reported that a Craigslist ad allegedly offering paid protester positions was a hoax. However, questions about the funding behind certain protests have continued to draw attention from Trump administration officials.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIR), which has received at least $34 million in government funding for pro-immigration advocacy, has been linked to demonstrations sparked by a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement raid. According to The Western Journal, at least $450,000 of that funding came from the Biden-era Department of Homeland Security. Under Trump, DHS has moved to recover a significant portion of the funds granted to CHIR, with over $100,000 still unaccounted for.
Last week, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to a Los Angeles-based organization, demanding it turn over financial and communication records related to its role in organizing early protests in the city.
Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO—the nation’s largest labor union federation—has also been linked to the unrest through an affiliated international development group. The organization reportedly sponsored one of the “No Kings” rallies held in Minnesota on Saturday. The demonstrations, which have mirrored the violence seen in Los Angeles, escalated further when an attendee was shot and killed during a “No Kings” event in Utah.
