Code Pink, the liberal antiwar group known best for disrupting hearings in their trademark fuchsia garb, may need to register under a 1938 law requiring disclosure of political behavior benefiting foreign entities or governments, according to a top Senate Republican.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote a letter Wednesday to FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi openly considering whether Code Pink, as well as the New York-based socialist ‘incubator’ The People’s Forum, must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
‘The Department of Justice has a duty to ensure compliance with the [FARA, which] remains a priority tool to combat adversarial foreign governments from influencing public policy and opinion in the United States,’ Grassley wrote.
‘FARA provides the American people with much-needed accountability and transparency. FARA is a content-neutral law and does not require any entity or individual to refrain from certain types of speech or activities. It simply requires individuals to register with the DOJ if they are acting as an agent of a foreign government or enterprise attempting to influence U.S. public policy.’
Focusing particularly on China, Grassley said the CCP spent more than $400 million since 2016 to influence American politics, and that both Code Pink and The People’s Forum have ties to a wealthy Shanghai-based U.S. citizen-activist, Neville Roy Singham, and the CCP itself.
‘Mr. Singham has denied working with the Chinese government; however, in July 2023, Mr. Singham reportedly attended a Communist Party workshop about ‘promoting the party internationally,” Grassley wrote.
‘Reportedly, Mr. Singham shares office and staff with the Shanghai Maku Cultural Communication Company, whose goal is to ‘educate foreigners about ‘the miracles that China has created on the world stage.’ Further, it is reported that Mr. Singham’s news outlet is co-producing a show on YouTube that is partially financed by Shanghai’s propaganda department,’ he added, footnoting a New York Times report from 2023.
Code Pink was co-founded by Jodie Evans – Singham’s wife – and according to Grassley, it received hefty donations from groups tied to Singham.
Grassley, appearing to cite the Times, catalogued Evans’ reported criticism of the Uyghurs as terrorists, though they are considered by the U.S. government to be victims of human rights abuses at the hands of the Chinese government. He wrote that when Evans married Singham and ‘became a recipient of funds tied to him,’ she and Code Pink became ‘stridently’ pro-China.
