WASHINGTON, D.C. – CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and two fellow agitators entered the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room 2272 today, wearing camera-ready T-shirts supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba, turning themselves into a live demonstration of the «Trojan horses» for foreign influence that lawmakers had gathered to examine.

At 2:39 p.m., about 30 minutes into the hearing’s start, after Benjamin carefully photographed their T-shirt slogans appearing on the TV screen behind the witnesses, staffers on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia had had enough, and Capitol Hill police officers escorted Benjamin and her fellow agitators out of the room, as they protested their ejection for staging their trademark CodePink antics.

For lawmakers, CodePink’s camera-conscious performance underscored the central point of the hearing: that protest theater, messaging and social-media content can function as parts of foreign influence operations.

«It’s really about theatrics,» Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., later told Digital. «They’re using it not to affect policy, but really to enrich themselves because they use that then to go out on social media, to try to whip other people up, to help donations, to help get volunteers, help get some of those other folks, and to really try to go and disrupt our – not just our sense of government and processing government – but society.»

HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE FOREIGN ‘TROJAN HORSES’ AS SINGHAM SCRUTINY WIDENS

The hearing, «Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America,» focused on the network of nonprofits, media outlets and activist groups that are promoting the interests of foreign governments and pro-communist ideologues, like Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. tech tycoon who lives in Shanghai, supporting the Chinese Communist Party. According to a Digital investigation, Singham has pumped $278 million into a far-left network of groups that have pushed anti-America, pro-China propaganda, including CodePink, which has received $1.33 million from Singham.

Outside the hearing room, Benjamin refused to answer questions from Digital about the Singham funding, and instead slipped into the hearing room with her fellow activists and positioned themselves behind the witnesses in seats that get maximum TV exposure.

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, spotted Benjamin immediately and, in a tense back-and-forth with her, said «I’m telling Medea Benjamin that she should try to stop shilling for a communist tyranny.»

Standing on the committee hearing room floor, Benjamin defended herself as «anti-war,» and denied any direction from the Chinese Communist Party.

CUBA BUILT COVERT NETWORK INSIDE AMERICA THROUGH SPIES, ACTIVISTS AND UNIVERSITIES, STATE DEPT ALLEGES

During opening remarks, Huizenga took direct aim at actors he said are tied to U.S. adversaries attempting to influence the American public, including Singham, CodePink and Marxist influencer Hasan Piker.

«We are here today because America’s adversaries – China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia – are conducting covert influence campaigns to shape American thought and society through lies and censorship. These countries have one shared goal: to weaken the United States of America,» Huizenga

«A prominent example of these adversary efforts is Neville Roy Singham, who lives in China and uses his wealth and relationships with the CCP to provide millions of dollars and personnel to extremist groups like CodePink, the People’s Forum, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation to destabilize American society and promote communist ideology,» he continued.

A hub for pro-communist organizing in New York City, People’s Forum has received $22.44 million from Singham.

The first to testify, Gonzalez said a «red-green» alliance of far-left groups working with Islamist organizations channel money through intermediary organizations and donor funds before directing funds toward U.S.-based groups that organize protests and produce political messaging.

Gonzalez pointed to Cuba and China’s influence operations as the basis of a «sustained campaign of subversion against the United States.»

He described BreakThrough News as a media platform that amplifies demonstrations and promotes narratives aligned with Beijing, while arguing that the network’s causes — including Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, the environment and social justice — provide a constantly changing set of rallying points. BreakThrough BT Media runs BreakThrough News and has received $1.098 million from Singham, according to reporting.

The testimony also focused on Singham’s connections in Shanghai. Gonzalez cited research saying Singham shares premises with Maku Cultural Communication, a Chinese communications firm that promotes a favorable image of China, and was photographed attending a Chinese Communist Party strategic communications workshop in 2023. Gonzalez also pointed to connections between Singham-funded organizations and Chinese state-linked academic and media institutions.

POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM

Singham and CodePink have denied that the organization takes direction from the Chinese government. Singham has said he is guided by his own political beliefs, while Benjamin has said CodePink receives no money from the Chinese Communist Party. No criminal charges have been filed against Singham or the organizations in connection with the allegations.

Soon after, Sam Lyman, head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, presented the network as one of three overlapping channels of influence: Chinese state media and online campaigns, nonprofits supported by Singham, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist-Leninist organization that works closely with CodePink, People’s Forum and BreakThrough News. Lyman said Singham-funded groups had echoed Chinese messaging on artificial intelligence, data centers and U.S. technology policy, while the Party for Socialism and Liberation organizers helped mobilize opposition to data-center projects across the country.

In the gallery, CodePink’s Benjamin stared at her phone, scrolling through messages.

Lyman said his research identified 21 campaigns linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation in 14 states that contributed to data-center moratoriums, a permanent ban and the rejection or cancellation of several projects. He estimated that campaigns in which the Party for Socialism and Liberation played a role had delayed, reduced or blocked proposed AI infrastructure investment across the country. He cautioned, however, that opposition to data centers isn’t entirely manufactured and that many Americans had genuine concerns about electricity costs, environmental effects and local development.

Finally, among the Republican witnesses, Matthew Johnson, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank, described the Singham network as an intermediary layer that translates themes associated with Beijing — including anti-imperialism, environmental harm, militarization, inequality and opposition to U.S. power — into activist language for American audiences.

HASAN PIKER CALLS HAMAS ‘FAR MORE MODERATE,’ DISMISSES TERROR GROUP’S BRUTAL RULE IN GAZA

His testimony identified the People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, Tricontinental, CodePink and the communist ANSWER Coalition as part of the broader ecosystem. Tricontinental Ltd. is a Massachusetts-based think tank led by a friend of Singham’s, Vijay Prashad, who led a session on the future of Marxism at Singham’s wedding to Evans. Singham provided $16.76 million to Tricontinental.

«Beijing cannot simply command an American university, company, journalist, think tank or activist,» Johnson said. «It must gain access and cultivate relationships within institutions that shape perception, expertise and decision-making.»

Democratic minority lawmakers called Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, to the hearing as their witness. His opening remarks offered a dissenting opinion to the other witnesses, criticizing President Donald Trump for accepting a plane for Air Force One from Qatar and taking aim at Trump’s family’s business dealings with nations abroad.

The phrase «Trojan horse» comes from the ancient Greek story in which soldiers concealed themselves inside a wooden horse presented as a gift to the city of Troy. Once the horse was brought inside the city, the soldiers emerged and opened the gates to the invading army.

FACEBOOK CO-FOUNDER DUSTIN MOSKOVITZ’S ‘EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM’ NETWORK TIED TO AI REGULATION PUSH

In modern foreign influence operations, lawmakers used the «Trojan horse» metaphor to describe seemingly legitimate people, organizations, media outlets, nonprofits or cultural initiatives that can provide hidden access for a foreign power’s interests. The concern is that a foreign government, foreign intelligence service, wealthy foreign actor or proxy may use that structure to gain access to American audiences, political debates, institutions, policymaking or elections.

After the last witness spoke, about 30 minutes into the hearing, Huizenga briefly suspended proceedings while U.S. Capitol Police approached Benjamin and her fellow agitators.

«We do have some folks who have not verbally disrupted the committee as of yet,» Huizenga said. «This has been deemed to be a protest by the clerk because of the nature of the shirts and what is happening.»

The shirts were still visible on the official feed of the hearing behind the witnesses.

Video from inside the hearing room shows a Capitol Police officer approaching Benjamin at her seat and asking her to leave. Benjamin complied but protested.

As the activists huddled outside with Capitol Police officers, ranking member Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., objected to the removal, saying the activists were «exercising their freedom of speech by wearing T-shirts» and «certainly were not being disruptive.»

CHINA EXPERT WARNS BEIJING WANTS AMERICANS — NOT THE CCP — TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE

Outside, Benjamin kept the performance going, strategically positioning herself beside the bronze committee placard and started filming a video about the political spectacle just staged, her Trader Joe bag beside her feet. Suddenly, she cut filming when she spotted Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., exiting the hearing room. Chasing after Fine, a strong opponent of the anti-semitism of the «red-green alliance» and a strong supporter of Israel, Benjamin hurled questions at her, her team filming the chase.

After Fine entered an office, Benjamin returned to her spot outside the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room, pulled out a comb to straighten her hair and returned to filming her remarks about the day’s hearing. The video complete, Benjamin disappeared down the hall with her fellow CodePink agitators.

Soon after, CodePink published videos of their members disrupting a House Financial Services Committee to heckle Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. As Digital has reported, Bessent’s Treasury Department has been investigating CodePink and other organizations for possibly violating restrictions on doing business with the Communist Party of Cuba.

Then, just about two hours after being escorted out of the hearing room, at 4:38 p.m., the CodePink team posted a carefully edited 43-second video of Benjamin standing outside the hearing room and chasing Fine, packaging the day’s confrontation into a ready-made social-media clip.

Far-left activists from the Singham network quickly shared the CodePink video.

Digital’s Jesse Watson contributed to this report.

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Iran is deliberately targeting U.S. naval drones in the Strait of Hormuz to gather intelligence on American surveillance capabilities and learn how to evade U.S. defenses, drone experts warned Tuesday.

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Tehran’s strategy is coordinated, they said, and involves exposing critical insights into U.S. Navy theater operations in the world’s most vulnerable maritime choke point even when classified data is uncompromised.

The warning came as tensions escalated in the Gulf region Sept. 14 after the U.S. military destroyed two Iranian small boats amid an attempted seizure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of an American unmanned surface vessel (USV) patrolling the area, according to reports.

US MILITARY ATTACKS IRAN IN ‘SELF-DEFENSE STRIKES’ OVER WEEKEND

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A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)

Iranian state media initially said the incident was a U.S. strike on civilian fishing vessels while its officials reported search-and-rescue operations off the coast of Kargan and near Larak Island, claiming local fishermen were missing.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins confirmed the attempted seizure on Tuesday.

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«Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded,» Hawkins said.

«The surface drone remains under U.S. operational control.»

«What’s going on with drones generally in the Strait right now—when we see all these types of intel capture missions that Iran is launching—we need to make no mistake that these are very coordinated, absolutely deliberate drone capture missions,» Cameron Chell, CEO of U.S. drone manufacturer Draganfly, told Fox News Digital.

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PENTAGON JUMPS FROM $225M TO $55B ON DRONES AS CHEAP ATTACKS OVERWHELM US DEFENSES

The Sept. 8 incident involved Iran’s capture of a Dive-LD autonomous underwater drone manufactured by defense contractor Anduril. (IRGC/WANA (West Asia News Agency /Handout via REUTERS)

Chell warned that even a brief examination of a captured drone provides Tehran with a quick win by revealing how the U.S. conducts surveillance and how to counter those systems.

«If Iran captures a drone, it could give them an immediate tactical advantage,» Chell said.

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«It may not yield specific classified data, but it gives insight into the theater of operations, which at any given moment offers an advantage. I wouldn’t doubt it for a heartbeat that it is escalating.» 

«Just getting little tidbits of intel starts to paint a picture, giving them different attack plans, battle plans, and thoughts on what the U.S. might be doing. I would be very surprised if this wasn’t an ongoing effort.»

WHO CONTROLS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ RIGHT NOW? HERE’S WHAT THE SHIP TRAFFIC ACTUALLY SHOWS

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U.S. Marines aboard USS New Orleans (LPD 18) stand watch in the Arabian Sea during naval blockade operations against Iran. As of today, 44 commercial vessels have been directed to turn around or return to port, according to U.S. Central Command. (U.S. Central Command)

Iran’s attempts to capture drones underscore growing security volatility in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital international shipping lane where commercial transit has fallen below historic levels since the war broke out in February.

Chell emphasized that any access to captured hardware over the last six months would allow Iranian forces to evaluate sensitive onboard sensors.

«It really speaks to the bigger picture of how the whole intelligence infrastructure works of, say, the Navy, for example,» Chell said.

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«The other important thing is that when they get their hands on these drones—even if they’re only able to spend some time glimpsing at them before they have to evacuate or abort a mission—is they get a real understanding of the types of sensors on them.»

IRAN SAYS ITS SMALL SUBS DEPLOYED TO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS EXPERT EXPLAINS THREAT: ‘VULNERABLE TO DETECTION’

Two F/A-18 Super Hornets launch from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 3, 2026.  (U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)

«That gives them a complete picture of how they can launch attacks and evade the type of sensing equipment out there,» Chell continued.

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«They can understand how to counter or measure the intelligence being gathered, and potentially use that design offensively in their own equipment.»

The latest escalation also follows a Sept. 8 incident involving Iran’s capture of a Dive-LD autonomous underwater drone manufactured by defense contractor Anduril.

While Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey said the drone was designed to operate in «environments too dangerous for humans where capture is an expected possibility.»

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«I can’t get into the details, but it provided significant value for months before capture,» Luckey dded.

IRAN’S DRONE SWARMS CHALLENGE US AIR DEFENSES AS TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST FACE RISING THREATS

«Unboxing ceremony by our reverse engineers, tomorrow morning!» Iran’s embassy in Hyderabad also wrote on X.

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U.S. Navy representatives however, said the recovered drone was an older model that had malfunctioned and gone dead in the water.

«The U.S. being alert to the fact that these are high-value targets dictates where and how they use and protect them,» Chell noted.

«I don’t doubt that the captured underwater drone had sensitive information on it, but that’s not the point. Again, the point is, they want to see the type of equipment and information being gathered, or view logs to see where it has been. This all just puts the U.S. on higher alert.»

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Tehran has previously leveraged captured U.S. assets—including an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone seized in 2011—to bolster domestic technology and regional propaganda.

Then-President Barack Obama publicly asked Tehran to return the aircraft. Iran later claimed it reverse-engineered the platform to build domestic lookalikes.

In 2022, a U.S. Navy patrol ship and an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter intercepted an Iranian naval vessel attempting to tow a Saildrone surface vessel in the Gulf.

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RUSSIA PREPARING HYBRID ATTACKS ON NATO’S EASTERN FLANK, INTELLIGENCE WARNS

Tehran has previously leveraged captured U.S. assets—including an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone seized in 2011—to bolster domestic technology and regional propaganda.  (REUTERS/Sepah News.ir/ Handout)

«Iran actually has a history of attempting this in the past, and at times has been successful,» Chell said, noting Washington takes the threat «very, very seriously.»

«In other instances where they’ve gotten sail ship drones, for example, and tried to bring them into Iranian territory—» Chell said, pointing back to the RQ-170 seizure: «a number of Iranian drones look suspiciously like the RQ line.»

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«Still, when the U.S. knows a drone has been captured, they adjust their tactics and operational overview accordingly,» Chell, whose firm has been awarded a five-year contract by the Government of Canada to provide low-cost tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance uncrewed aircraft systems to the Canadian Armed Forces, concluded.

«There is no question that autonomy and unmanned systems are the new standard in warfare,» Chell said.

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Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture. 

drones, middle east, us navy, world, foreign policy, national security, military, iran

Era una mañana estresante de martes en San Francisco, y Christina Lacourte fue a la habitación de su hijo para despertarlo para la escuela. La puerta estaba cerrada con llave, así que tuvo que abrirla a la fuerza con un gancho de ropa.

Adentro, vio a su hijo en la cama, bajo el letrero de neón que decía “Open” (abierto), del tipo que se usa en las tiendas, que él había pedido para su cumpleaños cuando estaba en sexto grado. Un líquido negro le brotaba de la nariz y la boca, y se acumulaba en sus sábanas.

Corrió a buscar las dos dosis de Narcan que guardaba en un cajón de la cocina exactamente para este momento, el que llevaba tanto tiempo temiendo, pero no lograron reanimarlo. Recuerda que lloraba a mares y gritaba mientras llamaba al 911. Su apartamento, normalmente encantador con toques de rosa, de repente se convirtió en un borrón gris de paramédicos, policías y peritos forenses.

Su hijo salió en una bolsa para cadáveres.

Seguramente, pensó, su hijo había muerto por fentanilo, pero el informe de la autopsia no lo mencionaba. En su lugar, incluía una palabra nueva para ella: “ciclorfina”. Sigue siendo la única vez que ha aparecido en un informe de un forense de San Francisco.

Dante Paul Lacourte tenía 16 años.

Una nueva droga llega a San Francisco

La muerte ocurrió en el apartamento de tres habitaciones de Lacourte, en el próspero vecindario de Lower Nob Hill, el 7 de abril.

Diecisiete días después, los funcionarios de salud de San Francisco ofrecieron una conferencia de prensa para advertir que había surgido un opioide sintético más mortal que el fentanilo, que seguía matando a decenas de personas en la ciudad cada mes.

La ciclorfina es una de una serie de drogas nuevas y mortales que están trastornando el mercado de drogas ilícitas y desconcertando a las ciudades que apenas ahora comienzan a controlar el fentanilo. Estas nuevas drogas pueden ser fabricadas por químicos aficionados en cualquier lugar y son más difíciles de rastrear y sus efectos en el cuerpo humano, más difíciles de revertir.

Los expertos dicen que la ciclorfina es 10 veces más potente que el fentanilo. Las tiras reactivas pueden detectar el fentanilo, pero no la ciclorfina, y puede requerirse administrar numerosas dosis de Narcan para revertir los efectos de la nueva droga, aunque la mayoría de las personas llevan consigo solo una o dos dosis a la vez. Ha aparecido en Europa y en la costa este durante el último par de años, y su presencia se ha extendido como tentáculos.

Dante había aparecido en The New York Times una vez antes, como parte de un proyecto fotográfico que documentaba la primera década del milenio. Ludovic Lacourte, un consultor tecnológico y enólogo que vive en Sausalito, justo al norte de la ciudad en el condado de Marin, había enviado una instantánea de sus gemelos recién nacidos, Dante y Marco, con gorros de punto a juego y arropados bajo una manta de hospital.

droga