By Asra Q. Nomani
The House Foreign Affairs Committee's South and Central Asia Subcommittee is examining the issue of "Trojan horses" Tuesday at a hearing titled "Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America."
But what exactly is a "Trojan horse"?
The phrase "Trojan horse" comes from the ancient Greek story in which soldiers concealed themselves inside a wooden horse presented as a gift to the city of Troy. Once the horse was brought inside the city, the soldiers emerged and opened the gates to the invading army.
In the 21st century, a "Trojan horse" describes a seemingly legitimate person, organization, media outlet, nonprofit or cultural initiative that can provide hidden access for a foreign power's interests.
In modern foreign influence operations, the "horse" could be an organization that presents itself as a nonprofit, advocacy group, media platform, academic institution or grassroots movement. The concern is whether a foreign government, foreign intelligence service, wealthy foreign actor or proxy is using that structure to gain access to American audiences, political debates, institutions, policymaking or elections.
A "Trojan horse" operation doesn't necessarily involve people knowingly working for a foreign government. Some participants may understand the relationship, while others may be unaware that their funding, messaging or activities are connected to a broader foreign strategy.
The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
By Asra Q. Nomani and Michael Dorgan
Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez confronted CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin following Tuesday's House hearing on foreign malign influence over the anti-war group's pro-China stance.
Benjamin, who was wearing a pink CodePink T-shirt reading "NO WAR IN IRAN," had earlier been removed from the hearing along with two other members of the anti-war nonprofit group.
Speaking to Fox News senior investigations reporter Asra Nomani, Gonzalez said, "I'm telling Medea Benjamin that she should try to stop shilling for a communist tyranny."
Benjamin pushed back, denying that any foreign government has directed her activism.
"With all due respect, I've been an anti-war activist from the days of Vietnam," Benjamin said. "I never had a foreign government tell me what to do."
"I know in my heart and my soul that war is an abomination, that we should learn to not kill each other and that that is how civilization progresses — by learning to stop war," she added.
By Michael Dorgan
The Chinese Communist Party is an "organizational weapon" that seeks access to influential American institutions to advance Beijing's interests, a China expert warned lawmakers Tuesday.
Matthew Johnson, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said the CCP views organization as a source of political power and seeks to shape perceptions and decisions in Beijing's favor.
"The party treats organization itself as a source of power," Johnson said. "The party, in other words, is an organizational weapon."Johnson said the CCP embeds political functions across universities, companies, think tanks, media organizations and professional bodies inside China, allowing the party to mobilize institutions toward common political goals."
Abroad, Beijing cannot simply command an American university, company, journalist, think tank or activist," Johnson said. "It must gain access and cultivate relationships within institutions that shape perception, expertise and decision making."
Johnson pointed to outreach involving American activist and political networks, citing a 2025 China trip by Democratic Socialists of America members that he said was coordinated in part by a provincial foreign affairs office.
He also cited CodePink, a pro-China, anti-war nonprofit, and its "China Is Not Our Enemy" campaign, which he said was launched in 2020 following meetings in Beijing.Johnson cautioned that the examples did not by themselves establish direction from Beijing.
"None of these episodes alone establishes tasking or control," Johnson said, arguing that taken together they demonstrate outreach to networks capable of educating, recruiting, advocating and mobilizing.
Ahead of the hearing, Johnson told Fox News Digital that Beijing increasingly seeks to shape U.S. debate through American institutions and organizations, making its messaging appear homegrown rather than directed by the Chinese government.
{{#rendered}}By Asra Q. Nomani, Preston Mizell and Michael Dorgan
Members of CodePink, a pro-China, anti-war nonprofit that has drawn scrutiny over its funding and foreign advocacy, were removed from a House hearing on foreign malign influence Tuesday.
It was not the first time CodePink activists have been removed from congressional proceedings. Co-founder Medea Benjamin has become a familiar presence on Capitol Hill, repeatedly disrupting hearings and other events involving U.S. foreign policy.
CodePink was co-founded by Jodie Evans and Benjamin and sits near the financial and personal center of the network funded by Shanghai-based Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham documented by Fox News Digital.
Evans married Singham in 2017, and Fox News Digital traced $1.33 million in Singham-linked funding to CodePink.CodePink has also facilitated overseas trips, including dozens to China, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela and Gaza, according to Fox News Digital's prior reporting, while its activists have participated in protests, delegations and campaigns supporting causes aligned with several U.S. adversaries.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has also sought detailed information from CodePink about its March 2026 trip to Cuba.
Benjamin publicly confirmed the inquiry and said federal officials requested information about the trip, its participants and the approximately $600,000 in aid the group said it brought to Cuba.
CodePink was repeatedly mentioned during Tuesday's hearing. Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., accused CodePink and other Singham-funded groups of serving as foreign adversaries' "Trojan horses," while Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez cited CodePink as part of what he described as a broader foreign influence network.
CodePink and other organizations in the broader Singham-funded network have denied wrongdoing and rejected allegations that their activities are directed by the Chinese government. Singham has not been charged with a crime.
By Asra Q. Nomani, Preston Mizell and Michael Dorgan
CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and two other members of the anti-war nonprofit activist group were removed from Tuesday's House hearing on foreign malign influence after the committee clerk deemed their protest activity grounds for removal.
About 30 minutes into the hearing, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., briefly suspended proceedings while U.S. Capitol Police approached the activists.
"We do have some folks who have not verbally disrupted the committee as of yet," Huizenga said. "This has been deemed to be a protest by the clerk because of the nature of the shirts and what is happening."
Benjamin wore a pink CodePink T-shirt reading "NO WAR IN IRAN," while another CodePink member wore a shirt reading "SANCTIONS KILL."
Another CodePink member wore a shirt reading "SANCTIONS KILL."
The shirts were visible on the official feed of the hearing behind the witnesses.
Video from inside the hearing room shows a Capitol Police officer approaching Benjamin at her seat and asking her to leave. Benjamin complied and walked out without being physically removed.
Benjamin is a familiar presence on Capitol Hill and has previously disrupted congressional hearings and other events during CodePink demonstrations.
Tuesday's protest was markedly quieter, with Huizenga acknowledging that the activists had not verbally disrupted the proceedings before they were asked to leave.
Ranking member Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., later objected to the removal, saying the activists were "exercising their freedom of speech by wearing T-shirts" and "certainly were not being disruptive."
A foreign policy expert warned lawmakers Tuesday about what he described as a "red-green alliance" between Marxist and Islamist organizations that form tactical coalitions despite their different ideologies.
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia that the alliance brings together groups that otherwise hold sharply different beliefs.
"This is the so-called red-green alliance, red being the color of communism and green of Islam," Gonzalez told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia.
"And they unite to fight what they see as a common enemy, which again, broadly we can define as the capitalist Christian West."Gonzalez alleged that organizations within the alliance mobilize around a shifting range of causes, including Gaza, Black Lives Matter, Cuba, immigration enforcement, environmental issues, Venezuela, social justice and Iran.
He argued that their influence extends beyond protests and demonstrations."They also try to infiltrate and influence the K through 12 educational system, institutions of higher education, our government agencies, the lobbying firms that write far too many of our laws," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez also pointed to cooperation between Islamist and Marxist organizations, naming American Muslims for Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine alongside left-wing groups including CodePink, the People's Forum, ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.Fox News Digital has previously reported on the phenomenon.
In May, Middle East scholar Dalia Ziada described a growing alliance between radical-left and Islamist movements in the West as a "sinful marriage."
In an interview with Fox News Digital she argued that the Palestinian cause has helped bring otherwise ideologically different activist movements together.
{{#rendered}}House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia Chairman Bill Huizenga opened Tuesday's hearing by warning that U.S. adversaries are conducting covert influence campaigns aimed at shaping American thought and weakening the country.
"We're here today because America's adversaries — China , Cuba, Iran, Russia and others — are conducting covert influence campaigns to shape American thought and society through lies and censorship," Huizenga, R-Mich., said.
"These countries have one shared goal: to weaken the United States of America."
Huizenga said the hearing is intended to examine how foreign adversaries allegedly fund and amplify groups and messaging inside the United States while concealing their involvement.
"I want to be clear: People can hold sincerely held beliefs while also being secretly funded or amplified by adversaries," Huizenga said. "These are not mutually exclusive ideas."
Huizenga singled out Shanghai-based Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham as a "prominent example," alleging that he uses his wealth to provide millions of dollars and personnel to groups to "destabilize American society and promote communist ideology."
The groups he identified include CodePink, an anti-war nonprofit activist group; the People's Forum, a New York-based nonprofit activist organization; and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a socialist political party.
"People like Singham and groups like CodePink and the growing communist propaganda in our country have become our adversaries' Trojan horses to sow division from within," Huizenga said.
Singham has not been charged with a crime. CodePink and other organizations in the network have denied allegations of foreign influence and wrongdoing. Singham has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
By Arsa Q. Nomani
Social media has dramatically expanded the avenues foreign actors can use to influence American public discourse, according to an expert set to testify before Congress Tuesday.
"This is a critically important topic right now because the vectors for foreign influence in our public discourse are greater than they've ever been before, in large part because of social media," Sam Lyman, head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital.
"Social media acts as a gain-of-function for mind viruses that are incubated overseas and oftentimes find their way over to the United States," said Lyman, a former senior advisor and speechwriter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Congressional scrutiny of foreign influence operations in the United States is widening, with a House panel set to hold a hearing Tuesday examining how nonprofits and activist networks may serve as potential "Trojan horses" for foreign adversaries.
The hearing is expected to examine influence involving China, Cuba, the Islamic Republic of Iran and pro-Palestinian groups.It comes as multiple congressional committees have scrutinized alleged foreign influence involving U.S. organizations.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Asra Q. Nomani. Click here to view the full story.
A China expert set to testify before Congress on Tuesday warned that Beijing's greater advantage lies in shaping debate inside the United States through American organizations rather than direct Chinese propaganda.
Matthew Johnson, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, told Fox News Digital that Beijing increasingly seeks to influence debates over national security and other strategic issues by working through American institutions and organizations, making its messages appear homegrown rather than directed by the Chinese government.
"The idea is that it's not the Communist Party talking, it's actually institutions and individuals in the United States who are talking," Johnson told Fox News Digital.
"That's actually the best outcome because then it looks organic... it looks like it's somehow being produced from within our society as opposed to by external actors."
Johnson said China's influence strategy combines grassroots activism with efforts to shape thinking among academics, policy experts and other influential voices.
He said one of Beijing's current priorities is slowing U.S. advances in artificial intelligence and data-center infrastructure, an area he said Chinese leaders view as central to strategic competition with the United States.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan. Click here to view the full story
{{#rendered}}By Asra Q. Nomani
Foreign malign influence investigations are not handled by a single agency. They can involve intelligence agencies, federal law enforcement, prosecutors, financial investigators and, in some cases, election-security officials.
The FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force identifies and investigates foreign influence operations targeting U.S. democratic institutions, while FBI counterintelligence task forces investigate hostile foreign intelligence activity around the country.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Foreign Malign Influence Center helps coordinate intelligence-community efforts to understand and counter foreign influence threats.
On the law-enforcement side, the Department of Justice’s National Security Division handles cases involving foreign agents, covert foreign activity, sanctions violations and cyber operations.
DOJ’s Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit administers and enforces FARA, which requires certain agents of foreign principals to disclose their relationships and activities.
Following the money can bring other agencies into an investigation.
The Treasury Department can trace suspicious financial activity and impose sanctions, while the IRS can examine nonprofit compliance and financial activity involving potential fraud, money laundering or terrorism financing.Depending on the activity under scrutiny, the Department of Homeland Security and election-security officials can also become involved.
By Asra Q. Nomani
Foreign malign influence” is the use of covert, deceptive, coercive, subversive or criminal activity by a foreign government, foreign actor or proxy to shape American policy, public opinion or political behavior.
Today's House hearing, “Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America,” will examine how such operations can move through American organizations and public debate while concealing the role of a foreign actor.
The FBI investigates foreign malign influence and describes it as activity intended to sow division, undermine democratic institutions or steer U.S. policy and regulatory decisions in favor of a foreign actor’s strategic interests.
Such efforts can include covert funding, false online personas and fabricated narratives, foreign-directed propaganda, pressure on American institutions, recruitment or manipulation of American citizens, cyber operations, election interference and intimidation or harassment of foreign-government critics.
The key distinction is that foreign influence itself isn’t always illegal or malign. Diplomacy, trade, cultural exchanges and registered lobbying are generally open and identifiable activities.
The concern arises when a foreign actor conceals its role, uses coercion or deception, violates U.S. law or attempts to manipulate Americans without revealing the operation’s true sponsor.
The FBI has warned that malign influence can operate through proxies who may knowingly or unknowingly advance a foreign government’s interests.
The agency also emphasizes that lawful political speech, advocacy and association remain protected by the First Amendment.
Coverage for this event has ended.