The Government Accountability Institute’s Director of Research, Seamus Bruner, joined a panel of journalists who briefed President Donald Trump, and several of his cabinet members on the threats posed by Antifa and the groups that support and abet its violent actions in cities across the US.
Bruner detailed a troubling pattern — how non-governmental funding networks are bankrolling protest and activist movements in the nation.the U.S.
“This is not just a story about violence and chaos,” Bruner told Trump. “It’s also a money story.”
According to GAI’s findings, the chaos now gripping cities like Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles — especially the recent waves of anti-ICE violence — is not spontaneous. It’s organized, coordinated, and funded.
“At the Government Accountability Institute, my colleagues and I follow the money,” Bruner told Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi, Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. “And we followed it to the top of what we call the ‘protest-industrial complex’. “RIOT, Incorporated.”
Bruner’s newest research maps how progressive philanthropic networks intersect with activist groups that have escalated from demonstrations to riots. GAI’s report highlights how complex webs of charitable entities, donor-advised funds, and online platforms provide cover for financing activism that sometimes crosses into criminal behavior.
Organizations like Antifa, the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA), and the John Brown Gun Club operate decentralized chapters, making it difficult to track funding trails without subpoena power,” Bruner said on X. “GAI has identified multiple online fundraising platforms where accountability gaps can obscure who contributes and how funds are used. The leftist funding platform, Open Collective, still allows for crowdfunding of these groups.”
Bruner joined President Trump at the White House Antifa Roundtable to expose the funding web behind America’s unrest: Antifa.
“I think we know that this is not just a story about violence and chaos … this is a money story,” Bruner told President Trump. “And at the Government Accountability Institute … we follow the money, and we followed it to the top of what we call the protest industrial complex.”
Bruner continued: “And we found a network of NGOs. It’s not just the Soros network, the Open Society network, it’s other funding networks, the Arabella funding network, the Tides funding network, Neville Roy Singham and his network, foreign cash. And it’s also big, left-wing funders … they’re pouring money into this entire ecosystem.”