Tell Congress: Stop the attacks on BreakThrough News journalists!
House Ways and Means Committee
BreakThrough News is an independent, nonprofit media outlet. For years, we've exposed the truth of how social movements around the world are standing up to the powerful. From the fight against ICE in Minneapolis to the struggle for Palestinian solidarity. We go where the stories that matter are unfolding.
The Trump administration is now targeting us for our journalism and editorial stances through the House Ways and Means Committee. These MAGA politicians, using an old playbook, say anyone challenging their warmongering policies is a “foreign agent” of China. But that’s a lie. What they’re really trying to do is destroy anyone that tells the truth about Trump’s policies.
The attacks are now escalating. We recently received a letter from Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, threatening to personally subpoena our journalists and editors to a deposition in Washington, DC if we don't waive our legal rights protected under the First Amendment.
BT is an independent news organization, which takes no editorial direction from any outside force. All major donations have come from U.S. organizations and citizens, using U.S. financial institutions, and complying with all U.S. laws. We’re audited and file a complete tax return to the IRS every year, just like everyone else.
So what’s this really about? It’s intimidation of the press, pure and simple. MAGA has made it a sport to target critical reporters just for doing their jobs. But unlike huge media outlets like the New York Times or CNN, we aren’t a billion-dollar company with an army of lawyers. We’re relying on grassroots support, and people of conscience who care about free speech, to come to our defense so we can stand strong.
Sign the petition now and tell Congress to stop its attacks on BreakThrough News.
We will keep all of you posted as we enter this next stage of the fight.
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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 — which has now escalated to threats against individual journalists. 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.
Drop the witch-hunt now! Stop the repression of BreakThrough News and its journalists!