Protect Democracy Sues for Records on Reported Trump Administration Efforts to Investigate and Target Nonprofits
Represented by American Oversight, group seeks transparency on executive actions that could punish perceived political opponents
Protect Democracy, represented by American Oversight, today filed suit against the Trump administration to demand that it release the lists of philanthropic and nonprofit organizations it is reportedly targeting for investigation based on their political views and advocacy work.
The lawsuit against the U.S. Departments of the Treasury, State, and Homeland Security, as well as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, follows the government’s failure to respond to Protect Democracy’s October Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The requests sought records concerning the administration’s lists of nonprofit organizations it is targeting for investigation, along with other documents related to its sweeping executive actions and directives purporting to combat “Antifa” but that appear to have been deployed to investigate civil society organizations with no ties to political violence.
“Americans deserve to know whether the government is using its vast law enforcement and financial surveillance powers to investigate nonprofits simply because the president disagrees with their views,” said JoAnna Suriani, Counsel at Protect Democracy. “History shows the danger of allowing government officials to target civil society organizations on the basis of ideology. Transparency is essential to ensure these extraordinary authorities are not weaponized against lawful advocacy, philanthropy, or dissent.”
“When the Trump administration investigates nonprofits for ideological reasons, it must not be allowed to operate in the shadows without being held accountable,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “FOIA is one of the few tools the public has to cut through the government’s secrecy. Yet the administration has offered no explanation for its failure to respond to these urgent requests. The public has a right to know how and why these groups were targeted, and whether federal agencies are being used to punish organizations for speaking out against the president’s agenda.”
According to the FOIA requests and the complaint filed today, recent executive actions have directed federal agencies — including the National Joint Terrorism Task Force and its local offices — to investigate “institutional and individual funders, and officers and employees of organizations” allegedly connected to political violence. Reporting and public statements by administration officials have indicated that these efforts may have extended to well-known philanthropic and nonprofit groups, despite no evidence linking them to political violence or terrorist activity.
More than 3,700 nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations have publicly warned that the administration’s approach “unjustly and illegally targets” civil society groups, while even leaders in conservative philanthropy have cautioned that such actions risk “weaponiz[ing] philanthropy in a way that is antithetical to philanthropic freedom.”
The complaint notes that none of the agencies responded to Protect Democracy’s expedited FOIA requests within the timelines required by law. With the government’s responses now overdue, Protect Democracy seeks a court order requiring the agencies to conduct adequate searches and release all non-exempt records.
The lawsuit emphasizes the urgent public interest in determining whether and how the Trump administration is using federal law enforcement and financial authorities to persecute civil society organizations, donor networks, and philanthropic efforts solely on the basis of their perceived political alignment — a practice fundamentally at odds with democratic norms and constitutional protections.