In a series of exclusive interviews with Fox News Digital, lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee sounded the alarm on a sprawling network of "Trojan horse" activists, nonprofits and social media influencers allegedly amplifying the hostile messages of foreign adversaries straight through the open gates of American democracy.
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lawmakers → sound → democracy
The warning came into sharp focus Tuesday when CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and two fellow activists walked into House Rayburn 2172 for a hearing on covert foreign influence operations, then strategically positioned themselves behind witnesses in T-shirts supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba.
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Benjamin → come → Cuba
About 30 minutes into the hearing, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., stopped the hearing and had Capitol Police escort them out.
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Police → stop → them
"They're coming in, trying to look like one thing, but we know that once they're inside the gates that those doors are going to spring open, and there's a whole other motivation for what they're trying to do," Huizenga told Fox News Digital.
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Huizenga → come → Digital
At the center of the controversy is communist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, who married CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans in a tropical wedding in Jamaica in 2017, soon after funneling $285 million to six pro-China, pro-communist, anti-American nonprofits in the U.S., including CodePink, according to a Fox News Digital investigation.
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who → marry → investigation
Lawmakers say the answer is transparency and following the money and exposing who finances the alleged "Trojan horse."
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who → say → horse
In their series of interviews, Huizenga and other committee members explained how the modern "Trojan horse" isn't made of wood but rather a network of activists, nonprofits, social media influencers and other ostensibly American voices that foreign governments and foreign-linked actors can allegedly fund, amplify or exploit to carry their messages through the open gates of American democracy.
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governments → explain → democracy
"They're coming in, trying to look like one thing, but we know that once they're inside the gates that those doors are going to spring open and there's a whole other motivation for what they're trying to do," Huizenga told Fox News Digital.
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Huizenga → come → Digital
At the hearing, devoted to "Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America," lawmakers expressed concern about how the Communist Party of China, Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba spread their propaganda and influence in the U.S.
The phrase "Trojan horse" comes from the ancient Greek story of soldiers concealed inside a wooden horse presented to the city of Troy.
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phrase → devote → Troy
Once the horse was taken behind the city's fortified walls, the soldiers emerged and opened the gates, destroying Troy.
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soldiers → take → Troy
Huizenga stressed that Americans can hold sincere beliefs while also having those messages funded or amplified by foreign actors without necessarily knowing it.
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messages → stress → it
He argued that the answer to foreign influence is exposing the origins of the messaging through transparency and robust debate.
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answer → argue → transparency
Inside the hearing room, as Fox News Digital reported, Benjamin and her fellow CodePink activists offered a vivid illustration of the debate over how political messages are created and amplified.
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messages → report → debate
They sat directly behind the witnesses, placing their T-shirts in the sight line of the official committee cameras.
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They → sit → cameras
Benjamin then turned toward a television monitor on the side of the hearing room displaying the official video feed.
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Benjamin → turn → feed
She pulled out her phone, zoomed in on the image of herself and a fellow activist appearing behind the witnesses and took photo after photo of the screen.
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herself → pull → screen
Huizenga said he viewed the episode as political theater designed for an audience beyond the committee room.
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he → say → room
This is about disruption," Huizenga told Fox News Digital.
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Huizenga → tell → Digital
"It's all planned out.
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It → plan → ?
You see people in the crowd filming with their phones, getting ready.
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people → see → phones
You knew something was going to happen because, all of a sudden, the phones would come out.
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phones → know → ?
"It's really about theatrics," he added, arguing that confrontations can subsequently be circulated on social media to attract attention, donations and volunteers.
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confrontations → add → attention
The episode captured the central tension running through the hearing: How does the United States expose genuine covert foreign influence without treating protected American political speech as foreign subversion?
"Transparency.
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States → capture → subversion
Transparency is the watchword," Huizenga told Fox News Digital.
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Huizenga → tell → Digital
"We really need to make sure that people know not only the why, but the who is behind all this.
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who → need → this
"
Rep. Baumgartner: 'We need to know who's behind it'
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who → need → it
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., told Fox News Digital that America's open political system creates opportunities for foreign governments to try to influence legitimate domestic debates through social media, universities and other institutions.
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governments → tell → media
"The American people need transparency and need to understand what is going on in these public policy discussions and whether it's podcast hosts, certain actors on social media or things going on our college campuses," Baumgartner said.
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Baumgartner → need → campuses
"We need to know who's behind it and what their motivations are."
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motivations → need → it
Baumgartner pointed to "clear transparency on this issue" as a solution, adding that if evidence showed organizations were acting on behalf of foreign governments without complying with applicable disclosure laws, the matter could potentially be referred to the Justice Department, which oversees the Foreign Agent Registration Act, or FARA.
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which → point → Act
The law requires that people and organizations acting on behalf of foreign interests register with the Justice Department.
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people → require → Department
Rep. Randy Fine: Trojan horses ‘poison people’s minds’
Other lawmakers said the modern Trojan horse doesn't necessarily have to walk physically through the doors of Congress, but rather arrive via social media.
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horse → poison → media
Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., described social media, influencers and protests as potential channels through which foreign governments influence American political debate.
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governments → describe → debate
He said "it's a real issue, whether it's on social media, influencers, protests, these things are all designed to destabilize our country."
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things → say → country
Fine characterized what experts call "cognitive warfare" as "using our information platforms to try to poison people's minds and to create division from within."
Rep. Darrell Issa: ‘It’s a network’
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., focused on another battlefield: artificial intelligence.
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Issa → characterize → battlefield
"Trojan horses are things like the announcement that we should slow down on AI," Issa told Fox News Digital, arguing that foreign adversaries can benefit when American political pressure slows U.S. technological development.
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pressure → slow → development
"We are in a war in which the other side uses all the clandestine tools," Issa said.
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side → use → tools
"They use their, quite frankly, their social media to our detriment."
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They → use → detriment
Huizenga similarly argued that Americans should view the organizations under examination not individually but as a network.
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Americans → argue → network
It's not independent organizations or even people," he said.
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he → say → ?
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
