For years the U.S. Department of State directed resources to organizations safeguarding free expression human rights and vulnerable minorities in developing and repressive nations.

Experienced personnel reviewed extensive data on violations by authoritarian regimes and ran open competitions to support suitable groups working in those areas.

This year Trump administration officials handed State Department staff a preselected list of organizations for funding. The move surprised many employees and lawmakers because it skipped the standard open bidding process and targeted at least a dozen awards for groups tied to conservative and anti immigration efforts in Europe plus advocates for white South Africans according to interviews and documents examined by ProPublica.

Among the groups considered in recent months are a British free speech organization that opposed bans on conversion therapy and an Afrikaner outfit led by a polarizing figure calling for self governance by the white minority in South Africa.

Such allocations would differ sharply from longstanding aid that assisted torture survivors and recorded rapes political violence and other violations in highly repressive states according to more than a dozen former State Department staff. One new initiative offering 4.9 million dollars in competitive funding for building civilizational self confidence in Europe supports research conferences cultural events and civil society work in prosperous democracies. The solicitation states recipients should avoid attempts to change legislative processes yet experts and lawmakers worry the United States seeks to shape politics in partner nations.

The focus on Western countries appeared in a grant the State Department pursued for months to a new British American think tank devoted to renewing Judeo Christian culture and civilizational purpose. Following congressional objections the department dropped those plans recently.

I have never seen U.S. government support for such organizations said William Allchorn a senior research fellow at Anglia Ruskin University and specialist on radical right extremism in the United Kingdom. It crosses a major line does it not.

An examination of proposed grants shows several align with conventional human rights goals though even some of those have sparked worry inside and outside the department.

Longstanding agency rules generally demand open competition to prevent waste fraud and abuse. The State Department may award funds directly to one entity or a limited set only in rare cases such as when solely one group can perform the task or an emergency requires rapid action without competition. It has also used such sole source or limited source awards in sensitive countries where open human rights work poses risks.

None of those conditions seem present here according to contracting specialists and former staff consulted by ProPublica. The issue grows more troubling they noted because Trump officials personally chose the recipients rather than relying on expert panels that assessed applicants by experience and qualifications.

It is poor governance for political appointees to award grants to individuals for unclear reasons one former bureau employee said.

Directing funds to organizations in wealthy nations adds further complications. The practice is so uncommon that an internal waiver is normally needed.

The State Department did not respond when asked if it had requested waivers for grants to high income countries.

During private briefings this month members of Congress raised concerns about both the list of potential recipients and the use of no bid or limited bid grants according to officials familiar with the closed sessions who lacked authorization to discuss them publicly.

In reply to detailed questions the State Department issued a brief statement noting that programs remain under active review and that no grant is assured to any organization failing to meet all federal requirements. An unnamed official emphasized that the award process continues with input from multiple offices and that the administration holds serious concerns about human rights conditions in South Africa that require attention.

Responding to questions about the proposals Sen. Jeanne Shaheen a Democrat from New Hampshire and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said Congress expects the State Department to use resources to promote human rights democratic institutions civil society freedom of expression and worker rights and that the ideas represent a troubling break from that approach and an insult to democratic allies.

These awards indicate the department plans to pick recipients based on political ideology Shaheen said not in the interest of American taxpayers or national security.

Internal records and interviews identify Samuel Samson a 27 year old deputy assistant secretary of state as a central figure in the grants. He previously raised funds for an organization seeking to place people with an America first outlook into government roles.

On the day of President Donald Trumps second inauguration Samson began work as a senior adviser to the Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor known as DRL the State Department unit handling human rights grants.

Over the past 18 months he has engaged far right leaders in Europe a region he sees sharing a common civilizational struggle. In recent weeks Samson has defended the agencys grant plans during private meetings with lawmakers.

One group expected to receive a no bid grant is the Free Speech Union a British organization started in 2020 to oppose cancel culture. The group frequently defends individuals accused of transphobia and has organized a petition against the United Kingdoms proposed ban on discredited practices aimed at changing sexual orientation. It remains unclear whether the grant would go to the British entity or its international branch. The 5 million dollar grant would address digital overregulation offer support for people facing deplatforming and oppose restrictive online safety and hate speech laws according to a document reviewed by ProPublica. Trump officials met with the group during a European trip late last year according to Politico.

Scholars noted that U.S. government backing could lend these groups a legitimacy they otherwise lack.

We view them as intellectualizing or sanitizing radical right ideas that later gain traction with parties in power said Allchorn the United Kingdom extremism expert.

The Free Speech Unions website describes it as nonpartisan and states it does not accept government funds. In response to questions from ProPublica about the potential grant founder Toby Young said We have neither applied for nor been awarded a grant from the US State Department or any other branch of the US Government. He did not address criticisms of the award or his organization.

The largest award the bureau has advanced this year totals 40 million dollars and targets the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation created by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The foundations mission is to honor those killed by communist regimes and advance freedom for people still living under totalitarian rule.

The proposed amount stuns those familiar with State Department allocation norms and would far exceed the organizations prior budget. Victims of Communism has received a few government grants previously but for far smaller amounts. Its most recent publicly available tax forms from 2024 list total assets near 12 million dollars. Four sources familiar with the foundations earlier U.S. funded work questioned its capacity to handle such a large award.

Samson maintains a personal tie to the organization. The foundations board chair Elizabeth Spalding serves as a visiting fellow at a graduate school branch of Hillsdale College in Washington D.C. Samson attended the same small graduate program at the Christian conservative college as recently as this year according to his LinkedIn profile which is no longer public. Spaldings husband Matthew is the graduate schools dean and Samson took classes with one or both according to a State Department official.

The unnamed State Department official stated that Samsons relationship with the Spaldings played no role in the grant decision.

The foundations proposed award aims to amplify the voices of dissidents and political prisoners while educating global audiences about the dangers of communist and authoritarian regimes according to a document reviewed by ProPublica.

In response to questions from ProPublica about the award and concerns over management capacity the foundation said it was unaware of the proposed funding but if true the 100 million victims murdered by communism in the past and another 1.5 billion men women and children still enduring communism today will rejoice.

The State Department declined to comment on awards still in process but noted that Victims of Communism has long collaborated with the department. As President Trump has said communism is a mortal threat to American liberty and as Secretary Rubio has repeatedly emphasized America will not allow radical extremists to undermine our sovereignty and national security the agency said in a statement. Our foreign assistance programming is aligned to support our strategic priorities.

Trump officials also plan to fund at least one organization to study crime and atrocities against minority populations in South Africa. This spring DRL staff were first instructed to begin awarding funds to Lex Libertas a South African group founded by a prominent member of the nations white Afrikaner movement. The organization which asserts that white South African farmers face racial discrimination and violence is raising money to place 3 000 white crosses on the National Mall to commemorate attacks on South African farmers.

The proposed award for South African crime research was later expanded to permit other invited groups to apply for a 1 million dollar grant according to people with knowledge of the process. The State Department declined to confirm whether Lex Libertas would be among those invited saying the grant remains under deliberation.

Extensive research indicates white South African farmers are not victimized by crime at higher rates than other groups. Yet Trump has claimed a genocide of white South Africans and has cited disproportionate violence against white people to justify cutting South Africas funding for HIV treatment and research.

Former diplomats told ProPublica that emphasizing the victimization of white South Africans makes little sense given the scale of suffering elsewhere in the region. It is laughable to suggest that on the African continent the prime issue of human rights concern is whites in South Africa one former agency official told ProPublica.