Breaking the Fourth Wall: Left-wing groups defiant as GOP sheds light on groups tied to China

As House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith dropped the gavel at 10:05 a.m. on Tuesday opening a hearing on "malign foreign influence," the groups under scrutiny did not retreat, apologize or go silent.

They escalated.

Inside Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building, Smith warned that the U.S. nonprofit sector had become a vulnerability exploited by foreign adversaries. Outside the hearing room — across social media — far-left organizations tied to Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, born in the U.S. and living in Shanghai, pressed forward with rhetoric vilifying the United States for its alleged "colonial policies" and "imperialism" and amplifying narratives aligned with the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, and communist allies like Cuba.

"This is not politics. It’s about national security," Smith said, as he opened the hearing titled "Foreign Influence in American Nonprofits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing." He said the committee was investigating "money trails" behind tax-exempt groups accused of "sowing chaos, fueling antisemitism," and interfering in elections.

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During the hearing, Smith sharpened the warning.

"The CCP is taking advantage of our tax-exempt sector," he said.

For any organization allegedly breaking nonprofit tax laws, he said: "We’re coming for you!"

Breaking the fourth wall, Fox News Digital examined how the Singham network positioned itself outside the hearing room. A flurry of social media posts reveal that, even as Smith's words echoed in the hearing room, the ecosystem he described was aggressively putting forward their own rhetoric of defiance.

On Tuesday, during the hearing, CodePink, co-founded by Singham’s wife Jodie Evans, was circulating a narrative accusing the United States of enabling atrocities abroad. On its X social media account, CodePink shared an article claiming Israel had "evaporated" Palestinians in Gaza, concluding: "Horrors beyond comprehension — made possible by the United States."

The message mirrored language long pushed by U.S. adversaries, including the terrorist group Hamas. 

While CodePink activists often crash hearings, screaming interruptions and heckling Republicans, they didn't show up for this hearing, where their name was invoked several times for scrutiny.

In his opening remarks, Smith waved letters he had sent the night before to BreakThrough BT Media, a multimedia nonprofit, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a think tank – both media entities funded by Singham – demanding records on their ties to Singham and alleging they promoted propaganda aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.

Online, the groups gave no indication they were retreating. BreakThrough News posted protest footage from San Francisco, even with drone video of teachers picketing, one of them carrying a bold yellow-and-black sign from the Party for Socialism and Liberation that read, "MAKE THE BILLIONAIRES PAY."

BreakThrough News showcased anti-U.S. narratives, one demonstrator shouting, "Enough is enough!"

The far-left groups persisted as Network Contagion Research Institute co-founder Adam Sohn testified, "This is engineered subversion," describing how foreign-aligned narratives move through U.S. nonprofits and activist networks.

The response from those networks was more performative "agitprop," a Soviet-era tactic for agitation propaganda. 

As lawmakers questioned witnesses about fiscal sponsorships and donor-advised funds, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is also part of the Singham’s network, promoted street protests and posted videos declaring victory. 

One post from the Party for Socialism and Liberation from San Francisco racked up likes during the hearing, emblazoned with the words: "WE WILL WIN!"

That posture — aggressive, unapologetic and public — is exactly what experts warned about regarding the influence operation that U.S. adversaries are able to wage against the nation.

"They don’t need spies anymore," Sohn told lawmakers. "They can use nonprofits," like a Trojan horse, to "launder" their propaganda.

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By late morning, Democratic Socialists of America, which has 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, added their own signal of defiance. As lawmakers debated foreign narrative laundering, Democratic Socialists of America widely shared a post where it praised the Super Bowl halftime performance by the Puerto Rican sensation "Bad Bunny," as "a damning critique of the harms of U.S. colonial policies."

"As socialists in the U.S.," Democratic Socialists of America declared. "It is our duty to support the struggles of peoples across the world suffering from the full weight of U.S. imperialism."

The rhetoric landed as Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, testified that "foreigners abuse this sector in order to hide their influence ops."

"This committee is investigating money trails," Smith warned. "This is about national security."

Still, the messaging outside the room intensified.

The People’s Forum shared content praising communist Cuba and circulated a "Call to Conscience demanding an end to Trump’s assault on Cuba," even as Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick called the groups out for "digital laundering operations," the process of repackaging the narratives and rhetoric of foreign adversaries to make them appear organic from inside the U.S.

Inside the hearing, Smith warned, "If you are an American, you should be extremely concerned." He asked witnesses to walk through Singham’s "web" of nonprofits.

Outside, that web responded in kind.

Students for Justice in Palestine, a nonprofit ally of the groups in the Singham network, urged Americans to "END ALL OCCUPATIONS," whatever that meant, "from Palestine to Minneapolis."

By 1:45 p.m., Smith dropped the gavel again.

"The committee stands adjourned," he said.

Online, the campaign never paused. Democratic Socialists of America pushed a "Call to Conscience" to end the Trump administration’s "cruel blockade on Cuba." The People’s Forum, an "incubator" hub for Marxist groups in the Singham network, based in New York City, moved ahead with its Tuesday night event for "comrades."

It hosted an evening discussing the "Hidden Histories of Rebellion in the US."