Rep. Jason Smith targets press as chair of Ways and Means Committee

July 21, 2026 | Ways and Means Committee demands financial records from nonprofit newsroom

Oct. 6, 2026 | Rep. Smith threatens to subpoena journalists at nonprofit newsroom

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith wrote to BreakThrough News on Oct. 6, 2026, threatening to individually depose reporters if the outlet did not comply with an earlier subpoena for documents.

According to an Oct. 9 release by the outlet, a letter from Smith lists journalists Rania Khalek, Zoe Alexandra and Amanda Yee, as well as other editorial staff, as potential targets for deposition subpoenas if the outlet failed to provide financial documents sought in July.

“The letter makes clear that this is a punishment for resisting their previous unconstitutional demands on our organization,” BreakThrough wrote. “The Committee is abusing their powers in a blatant attempt to shut us down.”

Smith indicated in an Oct. 13 statement that BreakThrough was one of three nonprofit organizations targeted with similar letters. His committee is investigating each of their ties to Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. citizen and tech financier based in Shanghai, who has reportedly donated to all three organizations. Singham has repeatedly come under scrutiny for his financial support of far-left causes.

“Shanghai Singham has poured millions of dollars into these groups to take advantage of America’s nonprofit sector and promote Chinese Communist Party propaganda,” Smith said.

The lawmaker added that the organizations, including BreakThrough, “have thus far refused the Committee’s request to provide information pursuant to our oversight role and responsibilities, and they are now defying congressional subpoenas.”

The outlet alleges that Smith has offered shifting legal and legislative rationales for requesting the information since the chairman first asked for documents in February.

“Our lawyers already provided a comprehensive reply to the House Committee in August, pointing out the serious legal flaws in their demands and failures to provide a valid legislative purpose,” BreakThrough wrote.

“So what’s this really about? It’s intimidation of the press, pure and simple. MAGA has made it a sport to target critical reporters just for doing their jobs,” the outlet added.

Smith said BreakThrough has until Oct. 20 to comply or the committee will pursue “more aggressive oversight actions.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the date of a letter from Rep. Jason Smith to BreakThrough News as Oct. 9, 2026. A copy of the letter, shared after publication with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, was dated Oct. 6, 2026.

July 21, 2026 | Ways and Means Committee demands financial records from nonprofit newsroom

The House Committee on Ways and Means, led by Rep. Jason Smith, issued a subpoena seeking documents from nonprofit outlet BreakThrough News on July 21, 2026, along with two other nonprofits.

In letters reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Smith wrote that the committee was examining the tax-exempt status of the organizations as part of an investigation into whether existing tax laws “adequately account for foreign influence and control.”

All three organizations have reportedly received funding from Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. citizen and tech financier based in Shanghai, purportedly as part of efforts to advance Chinese Communist Party interests.

The House committee first requested BreakThrough’s financial records concerning donations or contracts involving foreign nationals or foreign entities, as well as any communications with Singham, on Feb. 9.

“The Committee is disturbed by the connections between BreakThrough News and Chinese Communist Party linked organizations,” Smith wrote. “Therefore, given the Committee’s concerns, and in furtherance of the Committee’s oversight, I seek to understand why, and if, BreakThrough News deserves their tax-exempt status.”

BreakThrough refused in a response letter dated Feb. 23. The committee responded to the challenges May 4, asserting that not only does it have jurisdiction to request the documents but that doing so does not violate the news outlet’s First Amendment rights to freedom of the press, nor of free speech or association.

After BreakThrough again refused, Smith wrote in a July 21 letter that the committee would be “issuing compulsory process,” in this case a subpoena compelling production of documents and materials.

In an article published the following day, BreakThrough wrote that it was “under attack.”

“For years, Republican lawmakers have painted a target on our backs, falsely claiming that our political views and reporting are part of some foreign plot,” it wrote. “Make no mistake, this is a flagrant abuse of power, and a direct attack on our work as journalists and on the First Amendment generally.”

BreakThrough Editor-in-Chief Ben Beckler said in an email to Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project, that the First Amendment was written precisely to protect journalism that the government does not approve of.

“That’s why so many of the country’s decisive free speech cases involved the abolitionist press, the radical labor press and the antiwar press,” Beckler wrote in an email to FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern. “But history looks back on these episodes for what they were — shameful violations of free speech — and that’s the same thing that’s happening here.”