Trump weighs order that would label some nonprofits as terrorist groups: report

The Trump administration is weighing an executive order that would identify certain nonprofit organizations as having ties to terrorism, potentially cutting off their tax-exempt status, according to a new report.Which organizations would be targeted — and how many could face the designation — remains unclear.The proposal, which has been under discussion for months, would invoke an “untested” provision of the tax code to immediately suspend the affected organizations’ tax-exempt status, potentially threatening their ability to operate, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The report comes days after Democrats won control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections, dealing a significant setback to Trump, his agenda, and ending Republicans’ unified control of Congress.The reported deliberations also build on the administration’s wider campaign to investigate and penalize certain nonprofits, an effort pushed by Stephen Miller, whom Trump named Friday as his next White House chief of staff. The Trump administration is weighing an executive order that would identify certain nonprofit organizations as having ties to terrorism, according to a new report (Getty)The contemplated order would give the administration a faster way to act against nonprofits than the IRS’s usual process for investigating violations and imposing penalties, the Journal reported. The approach could expose organizations, including some that oppose Trump, to immediate financial consequences.Tax-exempt status allows organizations not only to avoid paying taxes but also to offer tax relief for people who make donations.When reached by the Journal, a White House official characterized discussions of a possible order as “speculative.” Reporters were told in April that such an executive order was not being considered.“We’re seeing a new enforcement infrastructure being connected across agencies,” Carolyn Schenck, a former IRS official, told the Journal. “None of these tools is new. What is new and potentially very consequential is putting them together around the same organizations and the same conduct.”The proposal follows other efforts by the administration to scrutinize nonprofits. The Trump team has already targeted some nonprofits through other means (Getty Images)For instance, the president signed a memorandum last year that ordered the IRS to monitor tax-exempt groups to make sure none are taking part in domestic terrorism.In a separate case, the Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights organization, alleging it defrauded donors by concealing payments to informants. The organization has denied the allegations.Last year, Miller, then the deputy chief of staff, pressed for more aggressive investigations into groups he claimed may have terrorism ties, such as Antifa. Trump issued an executive order last September designating Antifa a domestic terrorist organization. Reuters also reported last October that the Trump administration had enlisted multiple agencies in its bid to crack down on liberal nonprofits — an effort spearheaded by Miller.