Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen leads multi-state request for federal investigation into nearly $2 billion in foreign climate funding tied to U.S. advocacy groups.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Nineteen Republican attorneys general have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate more than 150 U.S.-based nonprofit organizations that received nearly $2 billion in funding over the past decade from five foreign climate foundations, alleging potential violations of federal foreign agent registration laws.
The request, outlined in a letter first reported by Fox News, urges Attorney General Pam Bondi and John Eisenberg, head of the DOJ’s national security division, to open a probe into whether the nonprofits failed to comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The letter was led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
Mt Ag Letter Doj by yourNEWS Media
According to the attorneys general, the funding may have been used to influence U.S. energy policy without the organizations registering as agents of foreign principals as required under FARA. They cited what they described as “substantial evidence” that many of the nonprofits engaged in coordinated advocacy and funding efforts to affect U.S. energy policy and undermine American energy independence.
The five foreign-based foundations identified in the letter are the Oak Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Quadrature Climate Foundation, KR Foundation and Laudes Foundation. The groups were found by the watchdog organization Americans for Public Trust to have directed nearly $2 billion in funding to U.S.-based climate organizations over the past ten years.
Fox News Digital reported that inquiries for comment were sent to the five named foundations.
The attorneys general allege that the foreign entities used financial support to “direct climate activism and influence energy policy in the United States, including by funding U.S. policy fights, litigation, research, protests, and lobbying to advance an extreme, foreign, activist agenda.”
They further stated that at least one of the foreign foundations, CIFF, has documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The letter references a separate request made in December 2025 by more than two dozen state attorneys general seeking a FARA investigation into two U.S.-based organizations linked to CIFF.
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, individuals or entities must register with the federal government if they act as an “agent” of a “foreign principal” and engage in certain political or advocacy activities. The attorneys general argue that the five named foundations qualify as foreign principals because they are incorporated in Switzerland, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
They contend that the U.S.-based nonprofits receiving funds do not appear to fall within statutory exemptions and note that the burden of proving eligibility for an exemption rests with the party claiming it.
The Department of Justice has not publicly responded to the request.
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