FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 9, 2026

Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected] 

CODEPINK Files an Ethics Complaint Against Representative Brian Mast for False Accusations 

 WASHINGTON – CODEPINK has officially filed an ethics complaint with the House Committee on Ethics against Representative Brian Mast (AR) for his slanderous, false claims made about CODEPINK on March 5, 2026, during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Advancing National Security Through Public Diplomacy.

As chair of the committee, Rep. Mast used his privilege to push false claims that CODEPINK is a “vector of influence” for the Chinese government. Rep. Mast said:

“Before we go to the opening statement of our witness, since you identified China as a concern which we agree on, I am gonna submit something for the record just before we get going, it is an article citing that the State Department identifies Code Pink and other far left group as vectors of Chinese influence operations and specifically denoting how they get their money from a network of connections to the Chinese Communist Party.”

And so I'm going to submit this for the record right now, since we have CODEPINK in the room. I thought now would be a really great time to put this on the record and identify their network with the Chinese Communist Party.”

These statements are not only false and defamatory – they represent a dangerous effort to suppress peaceful dissent and vilify grassroots activism. CODEPINK has repeatedly and publicly clarified that China or any other foreign government does not fund CODEPINK, nor do we have any contact with the Chinese Communist Party or take direction from them. 

“As elected officials, U.S. representatives are responsible for upholding the truth and not using their positions to conduct smear campaigns against peaceful activists,” said CODEPINK. 

Notably, when making this false claim, Rep. Mast submitted a NY Post article as his evidence, but did not submit the actual State Department report. The NY Post article, which mentions the report, also does not link to the supposed State Department report, and the State Department’s own website does not house the report.   

We call on the House Committee on Ethics to hold Senator Cotton responsible for his conduct. 

For more information, please contact Melissa at [email protected].

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