*

Powerful Trump aide Stephen Miller key part of crackdown

*

ICE agents being redeployed to target activist groups

*

George Soros' charitable network on White House list

*

Trump using isolated ICE clashes to justify national

crackdown

By Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Jeff Mason, Tim Reid and Ted

Hesson

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's

threatened crackdown on the finances and activities of liberal

non-profits and groups opposed to his agenda is a multi-agency

effort with top White House aide Stephen Miller playing a

central role, according to officials.

The Trump administration plans to deploy America's

counter-terrorism apparatus - including the FBI, the Department

of Homeland Security and the Justice Department - as well as the

Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department against

certain left-wing groups it accuses of funding and organizing

political violence, the officials said.

The effort marks an escalation in the administration's

efforts to target domestic opponents, raising alarm among civil

rights groups and Democratic leaders about the use of executive

power.

Reuters spoke to three White House officials, four

Department of Homeland Security officials and one Justice

Department official to produce the first comprehensive account

of how decisions are being made, forces deployed, and operations

coordinated in the crackdown.

All of the administration officials spoke on the condition

of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations more freely.

Miller is deeply involved in reviewing government agencies'

investigations into the financial networks behind what the

administration labels "domestic terror networks," which include

nonprofits and even educational institutions, a White House

official said.

The Trump administration has released some examples of what

it alleges are incidents of left-wing violence, but it has

provided little evidence of a coordinated effort.

"Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots,

organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated

illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and

riot materials, and more," the White House said in a statement

to Reuters.

Miller did not respond to a request for comment.

'ANTI-AMERICANISM, ANTI-CAPITALISM AND ANTI-CHRISTIANITY'

Two weeks after the September 10 assassination of conservative

activist Charlie Kirk, Trump issued a presidential memorandum

directing the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to focus on

"domestic terrorists" whose common ideologies include

"anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity."

Trump's opponents say the focus on liberal and left-wing

groups ignores violence by right-wing organizations. They point

to the January 6, 2021, violence by Trump supporters at the U.S.

Capitol who sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to

Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has pardoned most of those convicted

of violence that day.

While Trump has frequently blamed violence on left-wing

groups, a second White House official noted that the president's

directive does not mention them specifically and is aimed at

disrupting organized political violence before it occurs.

The official said the "focus remains on violence and illegal

activity," and that left-wing groups are free to protest within

the bounds of the law.

Trump's sweeping crackdown on migrants has triggered

confrontations in U.S. cities between Immigration and Customs

Enforcement agents and protesters, including Los Angeles and

Chicago. Trump and Miller have claimed protests in which

sporadic violence occurs are evidence of domestic terrorism.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Miller asserted that

protesters were engaged in a "continuum of violence" that was

part of a larger conspiracy to disrupt federal operations.

WHICH GROUPS ARE TARGETED?

When pressed by a Reuters reporter in the Oval Office on

September 25 about potential targets of a domestic terrorism

probe, Trump mentioned George Soros - a Democratic donor whose

charitable network supports civil rights, education, democracy

and other causes - and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of the online

professional networking platform LinkedIn and another Democratic

mega-donor.

The president did not present evidence of wrongdoing. "If

they are funding these things, they're going to have some

problems. Because they're agitators and they're anarchists,"

Trump said.

Hoffman, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Soros' network of charitable foundations

pushed back against the president's assertions.

"Neither George Soros nor the Open Society Foundations fund

protests, condone violence, or foment it in any way. Claims to

the contrary are false," the spokesperson said.

In response to a separate request, the White House

highlighted seven political protests in 2023 and 2025 that

included acts of violence directed against law enforcement

officials, and two incidents of vandalism at Tesla dealerships

this year as well as half a dozen social media posts celebrating

the damage.

It named nine liberal groups, donors or fundraising

organizations that it said helped finance or plan protests where

the violent incidents occurred.

While the second White House official stressed that the

organizations were not necessarily potential targets, the

material provides insight into the administration's thinking.

The list includes Soros' Open Society Foundations; ActBlue,

the funding arm of the Democratic Party; Indivisible, a

grassroots coalition opposed to Trump policies and the Coalition

for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based group.

"The goal is to destabilize Soros' network," a third White

House official said.

Ezra Levin, a spokesperson for Indivisible, said the group

has never organized or called for violence. "These smears are

designed to delegitimize our movement," he said.

Carter Christensen, an ActBlue spokesperson, said Trump's

crackdown was an attempt to silence dissent. "We take our legal

and civic responsibilities seriously," he said.

Angelica Salas, the executive director of CHIRLA, said the

group advocates peaceful engagement. "The Trump Administration

continues to spread misinformation and false allegations," she

said in a statement. "But it will not work."

Other groups on the list include two Jewish nonprofits that

oppose Israel's war in Gaza - IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for

Peace. IfNotNow declined to comment, while Jewish Voice for

Peace did not respond to a request for comment.

TRUMP'S DIRECTIVES CAUSE CONFUSION

Miller is taking a "hands-on" role in investigating the funding

of nonprofits and educational institutions and is sharing

recommendations from Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury

Secretary Scott Bessent with Trump and other top advisers, the

first White House official said.

The official said Miller is Trump's chief adviser on the

issue and is receiving regular updates from the joint terrorism

task force - a coalition of federal, state and local law

enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism.

A DOJ official declined to elaborate on task force plans but

said the FBI's role includes analyzing financial networks for

funding of activities involving violent crime.

Potential tools to defund or shut down these groups include

IRS investigations to strip them of tax-exempt status; criminal

probes by the Justice Department and FBI; surveillance by

federal law enforcement agencies; the use of RICO statutes

typically used for organized crime and financial investigations

under anti-terror laws to identify donors and funders, according

to people familiar with investigations and public statements by

officials.

"We will continue to get to the bottom of who is funding

these organizations," White House press secretary Karoline

Leavitt told reporters on Monday.

Investigating the groups' funding and potentially stripping

them of tax-exempt status could force some of them to close

down, civil liberty groups say.

Trump last month also signed an executive order designating

the anti-fascist movement antifa as a domestic terrorist

organization, despite the group's decentralized nature and lack

of formal structure.

At an event with conservative commentators and influencers

on Wednesday, Trump

requested participants to name groups and funders they claim

carry out violence, effectively crowdsourcing potential targets

in real time. He then vowed to pursue these groups.

The White House also released a list of more than a dozen

incidents dating back to 2016 that it alleged were perpetrated

by antifa.

A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency will

prosecute "those who participate in antifa's criminal acts -

including those who fund, supply, and enable these criminals to

commit violence and destruction."

Trump's twin directives on domestic political violence have

caused confusion; lawyers for the Department of Homeland

Security are scrambling to figure out how to implement them

legally, according to two DHS officials not authorized to speak

publicly.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the agency was "fully

and faithfully" implementing Trump's directive.

Unlike with international terror groups, there is no legal

mechanism to designate a U.S. group with no foreign ties a

terrorist organization, legal experts told Reuters.

One of the two DHS officials said many intelligence analysts who

used to work on domestic terrorism investigations have taken

buyouts as part of Trump's push to cut the size and cost of

government, further complicating efforts to target left-wing

groups.

Still, ICE in recent weeks directed some investigative

agents to focus on domestic terrorism, two ICE officials said.

One of the officials said it was part of a broader push to

redirect resources to focus on domestic terrorism.

The push against domestic groups and their donors comes amid

Trump's attacks on law firms, universities and the media, and

his deployment of National Guard troops to some Democratic-run

cities.

Democrats and civil society watchdogs say the move is

intended to silence opposition, in addition to seeking

retribution against his perceived personal political enemies.

Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian and former

director of the Richard Nixon presidential library, said Trump

and Nixon were similar in their desire to punish political

enemies and silence critics, but a pliant Republican-controlled

Congress and a cabinet packed with loyalists are enabling Trump

to go further.

"That's why this particular moment is more dangerous for the

rule of law in the United States than the 1970s were," Naftali

said.