ICYMI: Reps. Raskin and Waters Warn Top Brokerage Firms Against Crumbling to Pressure From Trump Admin, Restricting Donations to SPLC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Maxine Waters, Ranking Member on the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to major brokerage firms Fidelity, Vanguard, and the Charles Schwab Corporation demanding answers about why they blocked donations to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The letter raises serious questions the firms need to answer around pressure the Trump Administration is placing on these donor-advised funds to adhere to its policies of political retribution, saying:

“Please provide all documents and communications—including convenings, meetings, emails, memoranda, text messages, correspondence, statements, or other records—between your firm and any Administration official, federal agency, contractor, or outside organization concerning:

a. The Southern Poverty Law Center;

b. Restrictions on nonprofit organizations;

c. “Debanking”; or

d. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (“DEIA”) initiatives or related advocacy organizations.”

"When Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab block donations to a civil rights organization that hasn't lost its tax-exempt status, hasn't been convicted of anything, and hasn't been found to have broken a single law, that's not compliance — that's capitulation,” said Cole Leiter, Executive Director of Americans Against Government Censorship. “This is exactly the pattern we've warned about: the Trump Administration doesn't need to pass a law to silence its critics, it just has to make clear there are consequences for funding them, and watch the private sector do the rest. The American public deserves transparency about every conversation they have had with administration officials about who gets to receive charitable donations in this country."

Read the letter here.