Tell Congress: Drop the Witch Hunt Against BreakThrough News!
House Ways and Means Committee
BreakThrough News is under attack.
For years, Republican lawmakers have painted a target on our backs, falsely claiming that our political views and reporting are part of some foreign plot.
Now, the MAGA-dominated House Ways and Means Committee has issued us a subpoena – demanding internal communications, financial records and more. Make no mistake, this is a flagrant abuse of power, and a direct attack on our work as journalists and on the First Amendment generally.
BreakThrough News is a nonprofit newsroom, which already complies with all tax, audits and public reporting requirements. We are not charged with any crime, because our only “crime” has been to tell the truth – by covering the activities of the Palestine solidarity movement, unmasking the truth of ICE’s terror in our streets, and exposing Washington’s crimes around the world, from Cuba to the Congo.
That's the journalism they want to shut down. Their goal is to saddle us with legal proceedings and hostile media to drain our resources and stop this important work. They know our budget is microscopic compared to the giant billionaire-funded media corporations that dominate the airwaves.
Our most important source of funding comes from our viewers and supporters, and we haven’t received a dime from any foreign institutions or states. This is a political witch-hunt against independent media, pure and simple. It isn’t just an attack on us. It’s an attack on all independent media and the very principles of freedom of the press – from the very politicians who campaigned on the basis of “defending free speech.”
That’s why we’re asking you to speak out with us. We will not stop our work or fall silent in the face of clear right-wing political intimidation. We know the only rights we have are the ones we are willing to defend, and we need your support.
Add your name to this petition calling on the House Ways and Means Committee to stop muzzling the press and drop its disgraceful investigation against BreakThrough News.
Sponsored by
To:
House Ways and Means Committee
From:
[Your Name]
To the House Ways and Means Committee:
I am writing to express my opposition to the House Ways and Means Committee investigation into BreakThrough News, The People’s Forum, and the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. This investigation is a flagrant attack on the First Amendment, including the right to free speech and free press — and must be immediately abandoned.
It’s clear this Committee is not pursuing a true legislative purpose, but is just another tool for the Trump administration’s attacks against nonprofit organizations and media outlets critical of the administration’s domestic and foreign policy. Alongside the mounting federal repression targeting political opposition activists is a reprehensible revival of McCarthyism in Congress.
In demanding communications and records of journalists and activists engaged in First Amendment-protected activity, you make a mockery of your pledge to defend the Constitution. You aren’t protecting democracy from foreign influence — you are attacking democracy itself. Journalism and activism are not national security threats, but the abuse of power is.
These organizations you are targeting give voice to what the majority of Americans already believe: opposition to the blockade against Cuba, the genocide in Palestine, and U.S. wars abroad. A witch hunt in Congress will not change the hearts and minds of millions. Drop the witch-hunt now!