Marxist political influencer Hasan Piker is lashing out over a federal inquiry into his recent trip to communist Cuba, calling it an “intimidation tactic” prompted by his harsh stance on Israel and the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The response by Piker \u2014 echoed by other leaders from Democratic Socialists of America and pro-communist and anti-Israel leaders \u2014 illustrates how quickly the Cuba “solidarity” movement, pro-communist influencers and anti-Israel activist networks converged online to frame the federal inquiry not as a sanctions or foreign influence investigation, but as political repression aimed at broader anti-capitalist, anti-Western, anti-Israel activist movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker told followers during a livestream on Twitch Sunday afternoon that he is being targeted for being a “loudmouth” and “rabble-rouser,” criticizing Israel and the “fascist” United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fox News Digital reported Saturday that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sent administrative subpoenas to Piker and leftist CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin to get documents about the financial, logistical and communications details of their March trips to Cuba, in possible violation of laws and regulations about doing business with the government of Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s not great,” Piker told his followers in the early minutes of his livestream on Sunday afternoon. “The news is not great, okay? Um, I mean, it’s bulls—. But still not great…I mean it’s bulls— but still not great that they’re after your boy. They’re up my a–.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker didn’t respond to requests for comment, although he acknowledged receiving the queries as he spoke to his followers during his livestream. He said that he got his trip cleared by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, saying, “Everything we did was cleared by Treasury.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control didn’t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the end of his segment on the federal inquiry, Piker pivoted from the Cuba sanctions inquiry to argue that the scrutiny was really driven by backlash to his comments on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A lot of this, by the way, does still have a lot to do with Israel,” he said, charging that his critics “don\u2019t like that I talk s— about Israel” and “don\u2019t like that I am a loudmouth, a rabble-rouser.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He claimed the investigation was not “just about Cuba” but also about his role in boosting anti-Israel voters and candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They recognize that Democrats and young people are against Israel” and see him “campaigning with candidates who are anti-Israel, and they are winning their races,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker\u2019s response followed a pattern that has become common among online activist influencers under scrutiny: reframing a legal or regulatory inquiry as political persecution while broadening the issue into a sweeping ideological struggle. Rather than focus narrowly on the sanctions questions surrounding the Cuba trip, Piker repeatedly cast himself as the victim of a coordinated campaign by “Israel first” Democrats, pro-Israel activists, mainstream media figures and the “fascist” Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He frequently shifted the conversation away from the specifics of Treasury\u2019s inquiry and toward a larger narrative in which the federal government is allegedly criminalizing anti-Israel activism, anti-capitalist politics and opposition to U.S. foreign policy. He sought to portray the investigation as evidence that powerful political and media institutions are targeting dissenting voices who challenge establishment positions on Israel, Cuba and American foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, Piker said he created a mini-documentary about life in Cuba during his March trip, saying he was serving as a journalist. In other moments, he has described the mission as a “humanitarian” effort, framing his trip as providing “humanitarian aid” to the people of Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker also characterized the controversy using language increasingly emerging from socialist, communist and anti-capitalist movements online, where activists have used the phrase “Epstein class” as shorthand for wealthy elites and the supposed moral corruption of American capitalism. The rhetoric repeats the propaganda of U.S. adversaries, including Cuba, China, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He read a comment from a fan, who wrote, “We’ll free you, my brother.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker responded, “I’m seemingly going to be made an example of…in America’s galloping toward fascism.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He batted away suspicions that Elon Musk made a “boss call” to subpoena Piker after he did an interview yesterday with Ashley St. Clair, the mother of a baby with Musk. The two are going through a custody dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I haven’t gotten anything yet,” said Piker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Yes, I’ll get lawyered up,” he said, in response to a follower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he needed a lawyer with expertise on the First Amendment and “knowledgeable on OFAC.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I haven’t had anything happen to me yet,” he said. “And it’s not like anything I’ve done.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saturday evening, Piker posted on X that “the American govt would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we\u2019d starved, than punish the Epstein class.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 10:51 p.m., CodePink’s Benjamin posted: “Taking medical supplies to pediatric hospitals in Cuba is now a crime? Saving the lives of babies is a crime? The administration is beyond grotesque.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benjamin repeated the movement\u2019s broader framing of the Cuba trips as “humanitarian” missions, even as organizers and participants repeatedly paired the aid campaigns with overt political rhetoric condemning the Trump administration, U.S. sanctions policy and what activists described as “imperialism” and “settler colonialism” in Cuba and Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker\u2019s uncle, far-left commentator Cenk Ugyur, the co-founder of Justice Democrats, a socialist organization that helped elect Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress in 2018, defended him online Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Government apparently sent some bullshit subpoena to Hasan,” Ugyur wrote. “They\u2019re tightening the noose on speech. Remember, they\u2019ll always have an excuse or some technicality. It\u2019s not like they\u2019re going to tell you, \u2018We did it because we don\u2019t like what you\u2019re saying.\u2019”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uygur then linked the investigation to broader left-wing claims about suppression of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel speech, arguing the government was using legal and procedural mechanisms to target political dissent rather than directly censoring viewpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker called CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans a “wonderful person.” He took a photo in Havana with Evans, which she shared on her Instagram account from Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little after 3 p.m., one hour and 12 minutes into his livestream, Piker acknowledged, “I would much rather not have to deal with this.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Half an hour later, he insisted that he was being targeted for his strong opposition to the existence of the state of Israel, playing a clip of Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., as they spoke about the growing tide of anti-semitism, including from Piker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, Piker scoffed as the two lawmakers discussed increasing reports of antisemitism in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piker later moved on to a segment supporting the the Islamic Republic of Iran in its talks with the U.S. and Israel to end the war in Iran, mocking the Israel delegation’s “chirping,” critiquing U.S. foreign policy for allegedly letting “Israel take control over our entire Middle East policy” and moving the focus of his monologue to a critique of the “Zionist” state of Israel and the “rogue” United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n