Trump’s spying on left-wing groups recalls J Edgar Hoover’s Cointelpro | Ken Roth

The FBI from the 1950s to the 1970s tried to infiltrate and discredit leftist organizations.

Trump seems to be repeating that sordid practice

It is bad enough that the Trump administration https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/us/politics/fbi-agent-ice-shooting-renee-good.html">blocked a federal criminal https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/18/fbi-minnesota-shooting-civil-rights-investigation/">investigation when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent killed Renee Good as she was turning her car https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/video/ice-shooting-renee-good-minneapolis-videos.html">away from him in Minneapolis the past January.

Just before the shooting, Good and her partner had been observing and https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/18/fbi-minnesota-shooting-civil-rights-investigation/">protesting against ICE officers.

Instead, it turns out the administration has been https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/us/politics/dhs-inquiry-immigration-protests-minnesota.html">investigating progressive and even https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/13/us-government-spied-anti-ice-protesters?utm_term=6a7f00ec3368c126563a992f2de5501f&utm_campaign=USMorningBriefing&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=usbriefing_email">mainstream groups that have been involved in protests against Donald Trump’s sweeping deportations, according to newly released government documents.