FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2025
Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]
No Intelligence in Intelligence Hearing: Tom Cotton Blatantly Lies About CODEPINK Funding
Unlike the Pentagon, CODEPINK passes financial audits
WASHINGTON - CODEPINK disrupted a Senate Intelligence Hearing today where "Intelligence" leaders were supposed to testify to alleged worldwide threats. We disrupted to emphasize that the biggest threat to global security is Israel. During Kash Patel's testimony, CODEPINK peace activist Tighe Barry stood up and said:
"The biggest threat to global security is Israel, and the whole world knows it. Stop funding Israel."
As Barry was being violently escorted out, Senator Tom Cotton said that CODEPINK orchestrated the disruption then went on to lie repeatedly by saying that CODEPINK is funded by "Communist China."
The claim that CODEPINK is funded by "Communist" China is entirely false and defamatory and an insult to our over 34,000 individual donors who simply want peace.
"Let us be very clear. China or any other foreign government does not fund CODEPINK. No matter how many times Senator Cotton chooses to repeat that lie, the fact remains that CODEPINK is funded and powered by the people through thousands of individual donors who want peace," said CODEPINK co-director Danaka Katovich.
"CODEPINK passes its financial audits, unlike the Pentagon," she continued.
After Cotton started making these slanderous allegations, retired U.S. Army Colonel and former State Department diplomat Ann Wright called Cotton out on his lies. "I'm an Army colonel, and I know that CODEPINK is not funded by China. That is a lie," Wright yelled while being forcibly removed from the room. It is absurd to suggest that we are protesting a violent and horrific genocide because China are telling us to do it – especially while millions of Americans are against the senseless slaughter.
We receive no support from "Communist" China and have no connections with them. CODEPINK stands firm in its opposition to the U..S. government's support of Israel's actions, which are war crimes, and that is why elected officials resort to these lies. Lies are one of the most dangerous weapons the war machine uses. They use lies to try to manipulate the American public into supporting war and genocide. They use lies to ruin the lives of students who exercised their First Amendment right to speak out against the government and institutions that are aiding in genocide.
The blatant use of lies to silence dissent is why individuals like Ann Wright have taken a stand and been arrested— to defend CODEPINK's integrity and to draw attention to the genocide Israel is committing. The United States cannot continue to support this genocide, and we cannot continue to allow elected officials to lie and defame everyday Americans who are taking a stand against it.
It may be hard for Tom Cotton, who is paid over $1 million by Israel's lobbying firms to represent foreign interests, to understand that peace can be an American value. But a majority of Americans don't want endless wars and military aggression - they want more investment in the people and the planet. Despite the slanderous smear campaigns, CODEPINK will continue to educate and organize for peace and justice. With that being said, such lies will not be tolerated, so CODEPINK is filing an ethics complaint today against Senator Cotton.
For more information, please contact Melissa at [email protected].
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