CODEPINK Activists Confront Sen. Rick Scott on Capitol Hill Over Israel, Iran and Cuba

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., got cornered in a Capitol Hill hallway by activists from CODEPINK, the far-left protest group known for ambushing lawmakers on camera. This time Scott didn't just walk past them. He argued back.

The confrontation, captured on video and reported by Fox News, centered on three flashpoints: U.S. support for Israel, American strikes on Iran, and long-standing U.S. sanctions on Cuba. CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin pressed Scott on whether Israel was acting "in the name of freedom," accusing the country of genocide in Gaza. Scott didn't budge.

"How about the Palestinians? Does it bother you what Hamas did?" Scott shot back, according to Fox News.

Benjamin then pivoted to Iran, asking Scott whether it bothered him that the U.S. was "bombing Iran unprovoked." Scott accused her of wanting Israel destroyed by a nuclear weapon, and one of the other activists countered by noting Israel itself holds a nuclear arsenal. The back-and-forth escalated further when Benjamin turned to Cuba, arguing U.S. sanctions on the island were hurting ordinary Cubans and that Scott's broader foreign policy positions were making Americans less safe.

Neither side landed a knockout argument. It was a hallway shouting match, the kind CODEPINK has staged against Republican lawmakers for years. What's different is the scrutiny now attached to who funds the group.

The Singham Connection

CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans is married to Neville Roy Singham, an American tech millionaire whose network of nonprofits and media operations has drawn bipartisan congressional attention for alleged ties to Chinese Communist Party propaganda efforts. Fox News reported that lawmakers have raised alarms over a $278 million Singham-linked network accused of spreading pro-Beijing messaging inside the United States.

No criminal charges have been filed against Singham, Evans, or CODEPINK over these funding allegations. The claims come from congressional inquiries and investigative reporting, not from a Justice Department indictment or a formal finding of wrongdoing. Singham has previously said his philanthropic giving supports progressive causes, not foreign government messaging, though he has not issued a detailed point-by-point rebuttal to the CCP-tie allegations in these sources.

A fair-minded skeptic of the CCP-funding narrative would note that plenty of wealthy donors bankroll ideologically driven nonprofits without those groups being puppets of a foreign government. Left-leaning advocacy organizations frequently share donors, staff, and messaging with international left movements. That alone isn't proof of state coordination. Congress hasn't produced a smoking-gun document proving CODEPINK takes direction from Beijing. The concerns are real and remain allegations rather than adjudicated facts.

At the same time, the questions aren't manufactured out of thin air. Singham's network has been the subject of multiple congressional letters and reporting efforts specifically because of its scale and its documented links to Chinese state media distribution. That's a legitimate basis for scrutiny even without a conviction.

What CODEPINK Says It's About

CODEPINK has spent two decades staging demonstrations against U.S. military intervention, sanctions regimes, and what it calls American imperialism. Its confrontation with Scott fits that pattern exactly. Gaza, Iran, and Cuba are three of the group's longest-running causes. Benjamin herself has been arrested multiple times for disrupting congressional hearings.

Scott's office did not issue a separate statement beyond what he said on camera, and Fox News's video is the only detailed record of the exchange currently available. There's no indication from these sources that Capitol Police or Senate leadership responded to the confrontation, and no evidence the incident violated any Capitol Hill protest rules.

What's Unresolved

The funding scrutiny around Singham's network remains an open congressional matter, not a closed case. Lawmakers pushing for more disclosure have not said what legislative remedy, if any, they're pursuing beyond public letters and hearings. Whether CODEPINK's tactics change, whether Singham responds directly to the CCP-tie allegations, and whether any congressional committee moves from inquiry to subpoena are all questions without answers as of now.