A host of left-wing groups are funding a “free speech” organization already advocating for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, pouring more than $1 million combined into the outfit since 2019, tax records show.
Free Speech For People, a left-wing legal nonprofit that aided efforts to disqualify Trump from the ballot in 2024, launched a campaign to impeach the president almost immediately after he was sworn in for his second term on Monday. Major left-wing groups like the Tides Foundation and a node of the Arabella Advisors network, have combined to pour nearly $1.4 million into Free Speech For People since 2019, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of tax filings.
Specifically, Free Speech For People argues that Trump should be impeached because he has violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution and supposedly engaged in “unlawful” and “corrupt” behavior while campaigning in 2024. Trump was impeached twice in his first term, though the Senate did not convict him in either instance.
BREAKING: We have just launched a new campaign calling for an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump for offenses he has already committed upon taking the oath. You can access the grounds for this call at https://t.co/0yptXjqySq. Join us in this fight for our democracy. @FSFP
— John Bonifaz (@JohnBonifaz) January 20, 2025
“Free Speech For People is calling on Congress to launch an immediate impeachment investigation to determine whether there are sufficient grounds to impeach Donald Trump for offenses that have already occurred and that will continue in the days to come,” reads the group’s website detailing the new campaign. “Congress must also be prepared to expand its investigation if Trump undertakes any of the other impeachable actions that he has threatened to carry out.”
The Tides Foundation — a key cog in the wider left-wing Tides philanthropic network, which combined to shell out $850 million in 2022 — is a major financial backer of Free Speech For People. The Tides Foundation gave grants exceeding $250,000 to the legal nonprofit in 2020, 2022 and 2023, and a combined $925,816 since 2019.
Among other causes and initiatives, the Tides Foundation looks to address issues ranging from “the needs of frontline climate justice leaders to making long-term investments in the power and voices of women of color,” according to its website.
The Tides Foundation is not the only group associated with a wider left-of-center network funding Free Speech For People, as the Hopewell Fund granted it $20,000 in 2023. The Hopewell Fund is one of several nonprofits boosting left-of-center causes under the management of liberal dark money juggernaut Arabella Advisors, a major for-profit consultancy established by Clinton administration veteran Eric Kessler.
“As a fiscal sponsor, Hopewell Fund provides a shared administrative home to nonprofit groups, enabling them to pursue their programmatic goals while we offer back-office support,” a spokesperson for the Hopewell Fund told the DCNF. “In 2023, one of Hopewell Fund’s fiscally sponsored projects made an unrestricted grant to Free Speech For People, meaning the contribution was not intended for any specific campaign or initiative. That project has since sunset, and Hopewell Fund will not be facilitating any further grants on its behalf.”
A defunct anti-Trump outfit called Need To Impeach is another group that has provided funds for Free Speech For People, granting it $100,000 in 2019. Need To Impeach was an organization founded and funded by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer for the specific purpose of advocating for Trump’s impeachment in his first term in the White House.
Public Wise — a left-of-center group that pushes for things like ending the Senate filibuster, felon enfranchisement and universal automatic voter registration — granted Free Speech For People $125,000 total in 2022 and 2023.
The Threshold Foundation has also been a consistent supporter of People For Free Speech in the past, routing nearly $170,000 to the group across grants made in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Threshold Foundation “was created in 1981 in order to fight environmental harm and social inequality, and to stand in solidarity with communities working for social and environmental justice,” reads the organization’s 2017 annual report, the most recent available on its website.
Meanwhile, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) provided People For Free Speech a $10,000 grant in 2021. RPA is one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the world, and many of its “featured projects” pertain to issues like race, gender, climate change and the supposed “mass incarceration” of Americans.
Free Speech For People, Tides, Threshold Foundation, Public Wise and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors did not respond to requests for comment.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comment from the Hopewell Fund.
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