Trump earlier signed a memorandum instructing the Treasury secretary to identify and disrupt such funding channels.
The United States is in the process of compiling a list of organizations, including nonprofits, that could be funding domestic terror activities, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an Oct. 14 interview on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”
“We believe people have a right to free speech. They have a right to organize. They have a right to protest. But they have to do it peacefully. They cannot embrace violence. And we have seen it, we have seen it since the terrible day two years ago, the anti-Semitism and the bias that came out after October 7th, 2023. And many of these organizations have been financed by nonprofits. And it’s going to stop. And we are going to, as they always say, follow the money,” he said in the interview, responding to a question regarding financial networks supporting radical left violent groups.
The Treasury has already started to put together a list of such funding networks, Bessent said, adding that this was a “long record.” Moreover, it remains to be uncovered how much of the funding comes from overseas and how much is being supported by U.S. nonprofits, he said.
According to Bessent, this is now “mission critical” for the department.
“So Charlie’s death has set this off. And we are determined not only to honor him, but to keep our country safe and to ensure freedom of speech on both sides,” he said.
“As conservatives, we can’t be afraid to go out and speak. I know people are canceling speeches. They’re having to bring down the size of the rallies. President Trump was millimeters away from death. And he was not deterred. And we’re not going to be deterred.”
In an Oct. 14 X post, sharing a video clip of the podcast, Bessent said that just as the Treasury led the effort to track terror financing following 9/11, it will follow the money behind violent domestic networks to expose terrorists and bring such people to justice.
Bessent’s statements follow a presidential memorandum signed by President Donald Trump on Sept. 25 aimed at countering domestic terrorism and organized political violence.
The memorandum establishes a comprehensive strategy to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle” all stages of such activities, the White House said in a Sept. 25 fact sheet.
