Federal officials have subpoenaed left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin as part of a widening federal investigation into activists accused of potentially violating U.S. sanctions laws during a March trip to communist Cuba.
According to reports, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued administrative subpoenas, formally known as “Requests for Information,” tied to a trip organized through the “Nuestra América Convoy,” a coalition of left-wing activists, influencers, and pro-Cuba organizations that traveled to the island earlier this year.
Federal investigators are reportedly examining whether participants illegally financed travel, coordinated logistics, delivered supplies, or engaged in prohibited transactions involving Cuba’s communist government. Authorities are also reportedly scrutinizing whether activists stayed at properties connected to the Cuban regime that appear on the State Department’s restricted list.
The probe is said to be part of a broader Trump administration effort involving the Treasury, Justice, and State Departments targeting alleged foreign influence networks and organizations accused of promoting anti-American extremism or aiding hostile regimes.
Piker, the internet’s most prominent Marxist streamers and provocateurs, publicly documented his trip to Cuba in March, posting on Instagram: “I’M GOING TO CUBA.” During the trip, he appeared alongside CodePink activists and organizations tied to left-wing financier Neville Roy Singham, whose network has faced mounting scrutiny over pro-China and pro-Cuba activism. The investigation reportedly extends beyond Piker and Benjamin, with as many as 40 Americans potentially under scrutiny and additional subpoenas expected.
Piker responded angrily to news of the subpoena, framing the investigation as political persecution. “the american govt would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we’ve starved, than punish the epstein class,” Piker posted online.
Benjamin, meanwhile, attempted to characterize the trip as humanitarian relief work. “Taking medical supplies to pediatric hospitals in Cuba is now a crime? Saving the lives of babies is a crime? This administration is beyond grotesque,” Benjamin wrote. Given CodePink’s long history of radical abortion activism — and ideological messaging routinely excusing or sanitizing authoritarian regimes — the statement’s framing is quite ironic.
CodePink activists have described abortion advocacy, anti-capitalism, anti-Israel activism, climate politics, and opposition to American military power as part of a singular global feminist struggle. One manifesto argued that “the war machine and patriarchy” are “the same thing,” condemned “western feminists” for failing to prioritize Gaza, and claimed women in Congress who support Israel are perpetuating “racial capitalist patriarchy,” all while pining for a day when “uteruses can’t be legislated.”
The same essay praised a future where U.S. military bases are dismantled worldwide, where “the apartheid walls finally came down” in Israel, and where feminism becomes explicitly tied to anti-capitalist and anti-American political movements.
The subpoenas mark a significant escalation in federal scrutiny toward activist groups and online influencers accused of operating as ideological allies of authoritarian regimes while presenting their activities as humanitarian or anti-war advocacy.
Piker has long generated controversy for inflammatory political commentary, including past remarks that “America deserved 9/11,” criticism of U.S. foreign policy, and repeated defenses of communist governments. More recently, he has faced accusations from critics — including lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — of amplifying extremist rhetoric surrounding Israel and the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Benjamin and CodePink have similarly built reputations through disruptive anti-American protest campaigns and vocal opposition to U.S. foreign policy while frequently defending regimes hostile to the United States, including Cuba, China, and Iran.
For now, neither Piker nor Benjamin has been charged with a crime. But the subpoenas signal that federal investigators are taking a far more aggressive posture toward activist networks and online personalities accused of helping normalize or materially support adversarial foreign regimes.