THE NEWS

The SEC has, for years, enjoyed a widespread belief that it is the strongest conference in college football. And for years, that belief was correct.Starting in 2009, Nick Saban created one of the most impressive dynasties in the sport’s history. The Alabama Crimson Tide won a BCS National Championship in his third year on the job. And just never stopped winning. They won again in 2011 and 2012. Then won three more College Football Playoff National Championships from 2015-2020.But as hard as it is to believe, 2020 is now six years ago, and the times have changed. Dramatically. The Big Ten has won three consecutive National Championships, starting, coincidentally, when name, image and likeness rules were changed allowing college football players to get paid by outside collectives. Not only has the Big Ten won three in a row, but the SEC hasn’t reached the championship game since 2022.ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!SEC teams were 1-8 during the 2025-2026 bowl season against teams from other conferences, and 0-3 in the playoff against other Power 4 programs. Despite those obvious realities, along with plenty of other unflattering statistics, at the conference’s recent spring meetings, Commissioner Greg Sankey and other prominent figures were adamant that they remain, by far, the country’s best conference.GREG SANKEY INSISTS SEC IS ‘STRONGEST LEAGUE’ DESPITE BIG TEN WINNING THREE STRAIGHT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSThere are some who agree with that sentiment, and others who don’t, and based on some comments made by FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt, he’s squarely in the latter category. Why? Because Nick Saban’s retired, and the conference can’t ride his “big old coattails” anymore.”This is not 2012, this is not 2016, 15,” Klatt said during a recent episode of his show. “I’m sorry, Nick Saban is no longer there with his big old coattails for you to ride as a conference. It’s not that way anymore. So I thought that we should recap what we learned from the SEC spring meetings, and I’ve gotta be honest, it wasn’t a lot.”What did we get? Propaganda. Awesome,” he continued. “Let’s start with what Greg Sankey said, and it was basically, ‘hey, we’re the best.’ That is false. They are not by far the best conference in college football. And candidly, I don’t even know if you can call them the best conference in college football.”LANE KIFFIN MAKES RIDICULOUS EXCUSES FOR SEC’S POOR RECENT PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFKlatt added that the “data” shows that the Big Ten has passed the SEC, and those who doubt that are predisposed to support the SEC or its schools.”Why don’t we just go to the data, why don’t we call balls and strikes, because here’s the thing: at a meeting like that, Greg is saying this to a group of writers who largely want that to be true. If you believe what he said, deep down in your heart, it’s because you want to believe what he said. You don’t want to see the data, you don’t want to see the truth.”And that’s fine, and that makes college football great. If you’re a fan and you’re mad right now because you sense what I’m about to talk about, and you’re thinking to yourself like, ‘no way, here he goes,’ that’s fine, because the passion in our sport is what makes our sport great. What the data suggests is that what Greg said, is absolutely false. The Big Ten is 4-0 over the SEC over the last three playoffs. 4-0 is not a small thing now.”Yes, four games is a small sample size. But the playoff is the best against the best, ostensibly, providing a clearer comparison. Bowl games, too, went the Big Ten’s way. Iowa beat Vanderbilt, a team that believed it should have been in the College Football Playoff. Illinois beat Tennessee, a team that was ranked for much of the season. Indiana obliterated Alabama, with the one win being Texas over Michigan. That same Texas team also lost to Ohio State in the first week of the year. Meanwhile, Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers went 16-0 a few months after Steve Sarkisian said undefeated teams were a thing of the past.It’s Sankey’s job to ignore these results and point to metrics he prefers. But it’s the job of those on the outside to be honest about where the SEC currently sits. Because activism from Sankey and other coaches has already impacted the selection committee. Alabama’s inclusion in the 2025-2026 field proves it. And it’s why Klatt’s right to call it out for what it is, propaganda.

Screencap of Twitter/X video.
The most reasonable member of the Democrat party strikes again.
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was asked about Graham Platner, the Democratic Socialist (communist) running for U.S. Senate in Maine on CNN and called him a ‘creep.’
That’s actually a very good word to describe Platner, who is now embroiled in a sexting scandal, in addition to his many other controversies.
From CNN:
Fetterman calls Platner a ‘creep’ after reports of extramarital sexting
Sen. John Fetterman issued a scathing takedown of Graham Platner as the leading Democratic candidate in Maine’s Senate race has become embroiled in a scandal over reports that he sent sexual text messages to women who were not his wife.
In an interview with CNN Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Democrat also laid into Platner over past social media posts that have haunted Platner’s campaign for months. Fetterman likened Platner to a “Nazi sympathizer” over a now-infamous tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. Platner has apologized for the past posts and has pleaded ignorance over the meaning of the tattoo, which he has since covered.
“When I was growing up, if someone had a clear Nazi tattoo on them, you probably could conclude that they’re a Nazi sympathizer,” Fetterman said, before rattling off some of Platner’s more incendiary posts. “Are you going to continue to defend that or dismiss that?”
The sharp criticism comes as many Senate Democrats have been reluctant to criticize their party’s top candidate in Maine’s highly competitive Senate race after reports have circulated about Platner’s wife flagging his sexual texts with other women to his campaign…
“Oh, phustle,” Fetterman said of Platner. “What kind of a creep? What kind of a creeper has been on … a platform like Kik, and send a dozen explicit kinds of messages and who knows what else?”
See the video below:

Democrat Senator John Fetterman calls Graham Platner a creep for posting explicit pictures on Kik — aka “Predator’s Paradise.”
FETTERMAN: “What kind of a creeper has spent a decade on platform like Kik?” pic.twitter.com/EmkKwpDwnr
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 2, 2026

John Fetterman has more courage and clarity than Chuck Schumer, who is steadfastly standing by Platner, despite everything that has been learned about him.
If Democrats lose this election in Maine, it will be easy to see why.
The post Senator John Fetterman Slams Fellow Democrat Graham Platner as a ‘Creep’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Cliffwater Private Credit Fund Gates Investors For Second Straight Quarter After Redemption Requests Soar To 17%

The market may be in full-blown face-ripping bubble mode, and software stocks are now gripped in by a category 5 gamma squeeze hurricane, but not even that is helping the ongoing debacle that is private credit.

The flagship private credit fund of Cliffwater, a fund which has was slammed by redemption requests in the past quarter as the private credit crisis came to a fore, has again gated investors by capping redemptions at 5% in the second quarter after investors looked to pull more than three times that amount, or 17% of shares, Bloomberg reported, in a sign of relentless pressure on the $1.8 trillion market.

The $31 billion Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund informed shareholders Tuesday that they’d get about one-third of their requested money back, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg. The prior quarter, investors got back around half of the roughly 14% they asked for, with the vehicle choosing to cap withdrawals at 7%.

Shortly after Cliffwater’s decision in March, S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook on the interval fund to negative from stable, warning that the 5% redemption threshold is “an important guardrail.”

“Our repurchase program is intentionally designed to provide shareholders with periodic liquidity that aligns with the fund’s long-term investment strategy and its underlying assets,” Cliffwater CEI Stephen Nesbitt said in the letter to investors. And by periodic liquidity he meant far less liquidity than investors hoped to recovery. 

The firm previously said that the fund, which has delivered a roughly 9.4% annualized net return since it was formed in 2019, has enough liquidity to meet 5% redemptions for more than a year without selling a position or an asset. After a second straight quarter of gating that may be tested very soon.

Cliffwater has become something of an unlikely giant in the private credit market by raising money at a rapid clip and deploying it across both direct loans and funds that do such lending themselves. Other non-traded business development companies are set to report the results of their second-quarter tender offers in the coming weeks. In the previous period, some like Blackstone’s BCRED went to extraordinary lengths to let investors cash out (all for nothing as the looming redemption flood will overrun even the giant fund), while other funds at Apollo Global, BlackRock and Blue Owl enforced their 5% caps.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/02/2026 – 22:44

Feds Seize Over A Ton Of Cocaine At Massive US-Mexico Drug-Smuggling Tunnel

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

Authorities charged four suspects on June 1 with felony drug distribution violations after finding a hidden tunnel used by drug runners inside a retail store in San Diego County that led into Tijuana, Mexico.

Investigators also seized more than a ton of cocaine worth about $45 million in connection with the subterranean tunnel, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Homeland Security’s Tunnel Task Force in charge of the operation.

“For these defendants, it wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. It was lights and sirens,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon.

Federal agents with the tunnel task force started surveilling a Buy 4 Less warehouse on the 2400 block of Roll Drive in San Diego in late December 2025 after they became alerted to suspicious activity at the location, according to prosecutors.

A group of seven or eight “employees” at the Buy 4 Less showed up regularly at the store, but very few customers were seen coming in and out of the location, investigators said.

The supposed employees were seen taking multiple suitcases out of the store and into vehicles or walking the suitcases, which appeared to be empty, across the border into Mexico, according to the court complaint.

Investigators say that on May 29, a man loaded three large, heavy items into a white van that left the warehouse and parked on a street near a mechanic shop. Another man on a bicycle was seen looking around and into parked cars, allegedly conducting counter-surveillance for the van, investigators said.

Federal agents watched as people removed three deep freezers from the first van and placed them into the bed of another truck, then load the deep freezers with packages, according to court documents.

After the vans were loaded onto a truck, the truck left and parked a short distance away. Another man took the truck keys and drove away.

San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies with a K9 police dog stopped the truck and were alerted to the presence of a controlled substance by the canine officer.

After the traffic stop, the agents watching the warehouse saw two other men take heavy boxes out of the Buy 4 Less and load them onto a second truck, which was then driven away. Another sheriff’s deputy with a police canine stopped the second truck.

The traffic stops led federal agents to discover 851 packages of cocaine with a combined weight of more than 1 ton inside the two trucks and van.

The subterranean passageway, stretching from Tijuana, Mexico, to the purported retail store near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry known as “Buy 4 Less,” shown in this photo, is estimated to be about 1,933 feet long, 55 feet deep, and 4.5 feet in height, with a ventilation system and electricity. U.S. Department of Justice

The drug seizures also allowed federal investigators to obtain a signed judicial warrant to search the Buy 4 Less, where they found the exit point of the subterranean tunnel hidden beneath the floor of a storage room inside the store, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego.

The tunnel is about 55 feet deep and extends about 1,064 feet from the Buy 4 Less to the U.S.–Mexico border. Agents estimate it continues another 800 feet to another entry point in Mexico.

The tunnel was accessed using a sophisticated hydraulic lift and was equipped with ventilation and electricity, and was up to 4.5 feet tall in some areas, according to investigators.

Trucks coming from Mexico enter the United States at an inspection station after crossing the border in Otay Mesa, Calif., on April 1, 2025. Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images

The drug bust and tunnel discovery are expected to impact the cartel’s drug pipeline into California.

“This investigation and seizure represent a significant blow to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego Kevin Murphy.

Charged in the case were Gregorio Epifanio Hernandez Lopez, 29, of San Diego; Brandon Escalante Sandoval, 26, of Mexico; Jose Jimenez, 32, of San Diego; and Antonio Cortez, 18, of Mexico.

Hernandez Lopez is charged with conspiracy to use a cross-border tunnel and conspiracy to import controlled substances. All defendants are charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego said the tunnel is one of 99 discovered in the Southern District of California since 1993 and the first since 2022.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/02/2026 – 22:35

The race to replace a political titan from the Treasure State has taken shape with three challengers who will square off in November. What was expected to be an easy path to victory in Montana was shaken up earlier in 2026. Now, three new faces — former U.S. District Attorney Kurt Alme, ex-University of Montana President Seth Bodnar and former Montana state Rep. Reilly Neill — are all headed to the big stage in November.Republican Sen. Steve Daines’ sudden exit from his reelection campaign opened up the race in ruby-red Montana. 2026 MIDTERMS: PRIMARIES, KEY RACES AND ELECTION RESULTSNow, it’s a three-way battle between his chosen successor, an insurgent independent candidate and a former state legislator. Alme has a home field advantage given the groundwork Daines laid throughout his political career, turning Montana from a purple to ruby red bastion for the GOP.  But Alme hasn’t run for statewide office before. He was tapped twice by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. District Attorney in Montana and had a stint in Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration. And he’s leaning into Trump’s backing, along with the endorsements of Daines and Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., to make his case to voters.”We think that the Republican platform — and certainly President Trump’s approach to governing — is a winner in Montana,” Alme told Fox News Digital in March. “And we think that if we stick to our conservative roots, we’re going to perform well against anyone.”FROM REALITY TV TO CITY HALL? TRUMP-BACKED SPENCER PRATT SOARS IN LA MAYOR RACE AS CALIFORNIANS VOTEHis opponents, however, have both been critical of the circumstances that led to his entering the race. Daines, just as the candidate filing deadline in Montana was nearing its end, opted to drop out of the race. Then Alme stepped in almost immediately, a move that drew accusations that Daines tried to rig the Republican primary in the state.Bodnar charged in a statement after collecting the needed signatures to make it on the ballot that “D.C. insiders tried to rig this election in March by installing a handpicked candidate who will do their bidding. “Our campaign has spent months building a political movement of Montanans who want the chance to send leaders to Washington who will always put Montana first,” Bodnar said. “I will never pay allegiance to party bosses or political elites, and I will work every day until Election Day to earn the vote of every Montanan.”Bodnar, who has similarly not run for public office, is leading all candidates in fundraising.His latest financial filing showed the independent raised over $754,000 since March for a total of $2 million since entering the race. Neill raised $294,000 during the same period, gaining an edge on Alme, who raised $259,000. Given the GOP’s grip on the state, which Trump has won by double digits in each election he’s run, Bodnar and Neill both face an uphill battle.

Screencap of Twitter/X video.
Just yesterday, Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes had a total meltdown on management at CBS News, accusing the new chief Bari Weiss of trying to ‘murder’ the show.
Now Pelley is out at the network. They are not renewing his contract. One never knows what Pelley’s real motivation was here. He may have been trying to get fired and wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.
Either way, good riddance.

#BREAK: CBS NEWS has terminated Scott Pelley’s contract. pic.twitter.com/vbXyX8PBBv
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) June 3, 2026

The New York Post reports:
‘60 Minutes’ star Scott Pelley fired from CBS News after blasting Bari Weiss in heated showdown
CBS News axed veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday night, a day after after the longtime network star blasted editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and challenged her newly installed leadership team in a heated confrontation that exposed the widening civil war inside the iconic news magazine.
In a letter obtained by The Post, newly appointed “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton blasted Pelley in informing him he was fired “for cause effective immediately.”
“[Y]ou hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” Bilton wrote, referring to Monday’s heated face-off between the journo and his boss.
Bilton further accused Pelley of staging a “performative display of hostility” and claimed he had “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress.”
“I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama,” Bilton wrote.
He went on to tell Pelley: “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you.”
This was the right thing to do.

Scott Pelley is toast at CBS News
Absolutely the right move. Rancorous insubordination to that degree is intolerable at any decent workplace https://t.co/utILW6Cm8d
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 3, 2026

CBS has fired “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley, and rightly so. He betrayed journalistic principles in platforming debunked science, in being closed-minded and dogmatic, and in behaving like a pompous ass. Good riddance. https://t.co/saRQ6YCil8 pic.twitter.com/GMk7lfymP3
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) June 3, 2026

Scott Pelley thought he couldn’t be replaced.
The truth is that most people won’t miss him at all. Now he can join all of the other corporate journos who have been ousted in recent years and launched podcasts.
The post FIRED! Scott Pelley Out at CBS News After Meltdown With Management appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The FBI on Tuesday said 35 people had been charged for narcotics and firearms offenses stemming from a yearlong federal operation in West Virginia while also unveiling a new nationwide summer crime-fighting initiative.The bureau said FBI Pittsburgh and FBI Baltimore launched Operation Turf War in early 2025 alongside the Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force.The operation resulted in the seizure of illegal firearms and narcotics, along with the forfeiture of proceeds allegedly used to fund violent criminal activity, according to the FBI.”Operation Turf War was this FBI answering the call of a community that needed it the most,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement to Fox News Digital.WEST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR’S ORDER LEADS TO NEARLY 60 SUSPECTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS DETAINED”This was a massively successful operation right in West Virginia with nearly three dozen individuals arrested using sophisticated techniques, confidential informants, and precise collaboration across the entire FBI enterprise with our partners,” he continued.Patel said the operation demonstrated “exactly what partnerships are supposed to look like.”He pointed to coordination among the Martinsburg Police Department SWAT team, Jefferson County SWAT and Homeland Security Investigations SWAT.TRUMP REVEALS WHICH MAJOR US CITY IS NEXT IN CRIME CRACKDOWN WHILE TOUTING SUCCESS OF ‘OPERATION SUMMER HEAT’The FBI also announced the launch of Operation Summer Heat 2.0, a renewed version of an initiative led last year by then-Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino that the bureau said resulted in nearly 9,000 arrests nationwide.The effort will run through Sept. 20 and focus on partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies to combat violent crime.”For the next 95 days, the entire country will see this FBI replicating these exact efforts across America with Operation Summer Heat – an extension of our work last year led by then Deputy Director Dan Bongino to crush violent crime,” Patel said.”We’re just getting started,” he added.According to the FBI, last year’s Operation Summer Heat resulted in more than 8,600 arrests, nearly 7,750 search operations, the seizure of 2,280 firearms and more than 44,560 kilograms of cocaine.The bureau said this year’s operation will be conducted on a larger scale, with federal officials working alongside state and local partners to identify and disrupt violent criminals.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London can now call himself one of the highest-paid players in franchise history.The Falcons and their top receiver have reportedly come to terms on a four-year, $141 million deal with $100 million guaranteed, according to ESPN. The deal can also reach $150 million with incentives.At $35.25 million per year, London would become the NFL’s third-highest-paid receiver. Only the Seattle Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who signed a record-breaking $168.8 million extension one month after helping his team win Super Bowl LX, and the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase, who agreed to a $161 million deal in March 2025, would earn more.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMLondon, 24, was the Falcons’ first-round pick of the 2022 NFL Draft out of USC, and he has earned that draft slot after hauling in 309 receptions for 3,961 yards and 22 touchdowns across four seasons.He was coming into this season on his fifth-year option, but the Falcons will not be playing that game with a cornerstone piece.JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA, SEAHAWKS AGREE TO HISTORIC CONTRACT EXTENSION: REPORTSHowever, they won’t be done shelling out massive deals, and London’s star offensive teammate, running back Bijan Robinson, might do more than just be one of the highest-paid players in franchise history.Robinson cemented himself as one of the elite running backs in the NFL across just three seasons with Atlanta. Last season, he tallied a league-leading 2,298 scrimmage yards (1,478 rushing, 820 receiving, with 11 total touchdowns). He earned himself his first All-Pro honor, and there’s likely more to come for the shifty Texas product.Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley is the highest-paid running back in the NFL at $20.6 million per year, but Robinson could crush that number depending on what he and the Falcons potentially agree to. It doesn’t have to come this year, but it’s certainly on the horizon.The Falcons already picked up Robinson’s fifth-year option for the 2027 season.As for London, the Falcons have a major decision to make heading into the 2026 season: determining who will be their starting quarterback. Whoever wins the job will be tasked with getting the ball to London and the rest of Atlanta’s pass catchers, including tight end Kyle Pitts Sr., who will play the season on the franchise tag.While Michael Penix Jr., who partially tore his ACL in his left knee last season, remains on the roster, the Falcons signed another lefty, former Miami Dolphins star Tua Tagovailoa, to give him some competition in training camp this summer.Inconsistency at the quarterback position is what London and his teammates have had to deal with since he entered the league, with the likes of Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinecke, and Marcus Mariota taking turns as the team’s starter before Kirk Cousins signed his massive three-year deal with Atlanta.London’s best year was in 2024 when he was Cousins’ clear top target, hauling in 100 of his 158 targets for a career-high 1,271 with nine touchdowns. However, Cousins didn’t hold on to his starting role, as Penix took over as the Week 1 starter. Once he sustained his injury, Cousins had to come in, and yet London still almost reached 1,000 yards.With a new front office in place, led by Falcons legend and President of Football Matt Ryan, it’s clear the team is committed to retaining its young core as it tries to return to playoff contention in the wide-open NFC South.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Screencap of Twitter/X video.
Today on The Five, Greg Gutfeld took aim at Kathy Griffin and other liberal celebrities who are backing Karen Bass in the race for mayor of Los Angeles.
He pointed out that these people support the status quo but that it costs them nothing. These are people who live in gated communities and never have to deal with the consequences of the politicians they support.
He also suggested that in some ways, Griffin herself is a metaphor for the decaying city:
“Kathy Griffin thinks that Bass should have another term, so she is a microcosm of the city of Los Angeles itself. Under disrepair, plagued by mental illness, money is thrown at remedies that do nothing to solve the underlying rot.
You can keep having face lifts, just like you can keep reelecting Democrat mayors, but it does nothing but keep the catastrophe alive. It never gets any better, it just gets worse. And that podcast is worth noting, because she’s a progressive, blue celebrity. Just like Jane Fonda, just like Sam Jackson. They all endorsed Bass, and if she wins, it has no effect on them whatsoever.
It is just like all the celebrities who donated their time and money to the fire relief concert. Once it was over, they had no reason to see if the money got there. They don’t care, they did their deed. A hundred million dollars. No one knows where it went. It did not go to the victims.”
Watch the whole thing below:

.@greggutfeld DESTROYS Kathy Griffin for stumping with Karen Bass ahead of the L.A. Mayor’s race. “She is a microcosm for the city of Los Angeles itself: under disrepair.”
Can Spencer Pratt pull off the upset? pic.twitter.com/KiAiuzDr0v
— The Five (@TheFive) June 2, 2026

The results of tonight’s primary in this race will be fascinating, no matter what happens.
If Pratt cleans up, it means there is some hope for Los Angeles. If voters want to give Karen Bass another term, or to elect the far left communist candidate, we will know the city is beyond help.
The post Greg Gutfeld Slams Kathy Griffin and Other Liberal Celebs for Backing Karen Bass: ‘It Has No Effect on Them Whatsoever’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Whistleblower Leaks Stanford’s Private Foreign-Funding Records, Exposing CCP-Linked Donors

Some of America’s top universities have become soft targets for foreign espionage and influence operations, creating potential gateways for adversarial powers to access sensitive research, elite policy networks, and federally funded innovation pipelines.

The latest report from The Stanford Review should be viewed as yet another warning about the urgent need to protect academic institutions from foreign funding channels, obscure overseas donor networks, and national security risks within the higher education bubble.

The independent, student-run newspaper at Stanford University reports that a whistleblower has come forward with “non-public foreign funding disclosures of Stanford University” that, for the first time, reveal the names of Chinese state-backed entities and individuals funding the left-leaning university.

INVESTIGATION: A whistleblower has leaked Stanford’s private foreign-funding records to the Review, revealing millions in funding from Chinese state-linked entities and CCP donors. pic.twitter.com/RWQkaxvAft
— The Stanford Review (@StanfordReview) June 1, 2026
According to the report, Stanford University accepted millions of dollars from Chinese state-linked firms, political elites, and entities tied to Beijing’s political warfare and influence operations. This startling revelation is based entirely on disclosures the whistleblower provided to the student news organization.

The report continued:

Chen Yuan served as Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from 2013 to 2018. He is the oldest son of former Vice Premier Chen Yun. Before chairing CAIFC, he served as president of the state-owned China Development Bank from 1998 to 2013, turning it into one of the world’s largest policy lenders. Hoover also houses the diaries of Mao Zedong’s former secretary, Li Rui. The diaries contain commentary on senior CCP leaders, including Chen Yun and his family.

Chen Yuan’s sister, Chen Weili (陈伟力), spent two years at Stanford as a visiting scholar earlier in her career. Chen Yuan’s son, Xiaoxin Chen (陈晓欣), attended Stanford and donated $1,020,000 to the university in 2024. Members of the Chen family appear in Stanford records both as students and donors.

Stanford declined to provide additional information. Responding on behalf of External Relations and the Office of Development, a university representative said it is Stanford’s longstanding practice not to disclose donor names or gift details without the donor’s authorization. The representative said Stanford conducts rigorous due diligence on all gifts, with an additional layer of scrutiny for international ones.

A restricted gift of this kind works as a research contract. The funds go to a named Hoover researcher or project rather than to the university unconditionally. The disclosure appears in filings made under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.

The money was routed through the San Francisco law firm Adler & Colvin. No other reported donation in the disclosures was structured this way. Every other donor listed a home or company address. Routing a foreign gift through a legal intermediary can make it difficult to verify the donor’s true identity, as it obscures the funds’ true source.

The Hoover Institution shapes U.S. geopolitical discourse and participates in national research security work, including the congressionally authorized SECURE programs. Its scholars have led research on Beijing’s global influence campaigns, including the program on China’s Global Sharp Power (now called “US, China, and the World”), which examines how the CCP projects political influence through academic partnerships and financial engagement abroad. The SECURE program, which oversees $67 million in taxpayer funds, has faced growing scrutiny from Washington lately. The House Select Committee on the CCP is pressing the National Science Foundation to pause the program and review the University of Washington and Texas A&M after finding that they have been collaborating with Chinese military-linked entities.

Stanford works with the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and federally funded research programs. The Hoover Institution participates in national research security initiatives, including the SECURE program and the NSF-funded SECURE Analytics program. At the same time, Stanford takes millions of dollars from Chinese state-linked companies and elites connected to the United Front Work Department, the CCP body that co-opts and influences groups outside the Party. U.S. government reports tie these networks to the CCP’s influence apparatus.

Millions of dollars in gifts and research contracts have flowed from Chinese companies and political entities tied to Beijing’s state and military-industrial system to Stanford:

Millions from Chinese State-Linked Entities

BOE Technology Group provided $254,000 in contracts in 2019 for research on high-conductivity stretchable electrode arrays. BOE is a Chinese state-subsidized manufacturer that the House Select Committee on the CCP says was founded in 1993 as a military and defense supplier and operates as a subcontractor for the PLA. In 2026, a federal jury found that BOE had infringed U.S. patents.

Huawei Technologies provided $250,000 in contracts and gifts from 2019 to 2020, after the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security placed it on the Entity List. The purpose was not specified.

State Grid Corporation of China provided $1.5 million in contracts and gifts in 2019 to fund fellowships for graduate and postdoctoral scholars from China conducting energy research.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) awarded $1.1 million in contracts in 2018 to a Stanford principal investigator for the Ali CMB Polarization Telescope (AliCPT-1), the first stage of a Sino-U.S. joint project led by CAS’s Institute of High Energy Physics. U.S. participants include Stanford and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The federally run National Institute of Standards and Technology designed and fabricated the telescope’s superconducting detector arrays, which Stanford integrated into the receiver before the components were shipped to Tibet.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) provided $380,000 in contracts from 2023 to 2026 for a Stanford principal investigator studying cement integrity for long-term hydrogen storage.

China National Technical Import & Export Corporation provided $619,000 in contracts in 2022. The purpose was not specified.

The Ma Huateng Foundation provided $5.45 million in contracts in 2019. The purpose was not specified.

Jingdong Group (JD.com) provided $3.9 million in contracts and gifts from 2018 to 2021. The purpose was not specified.

Dowson Tong (汤道生), president of Tencent’s Cloud and Smart Industries Group, gave $800,000 from 2024 to 2025 to support a faculty member’s research in the School of Engineering and the Hong Kong/Stanford University Charitable Trust.

Tencent Charity Foundation Limited awarded $441,000 in contracts and gifts in 2016 to support Professor Leskovec’s work on the diffusion of information.

Guangdong Qitian Institute awarded $4.75 million in contracts from 2019 to 2023 to a Stanford principal investigator developing a curriculum to support the launch of QiTian School.

Midea Group provided $680,000 in contracts in 2024. The purpose was not specified.

Weichai Power provided $1 million in contracts in 2018 for executive education lectures at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

The Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI) provided $984,000 in contracts from 2020 to 2021. The purpose was not specified. The Beijing Municipal Government established BICI.

Gifts from CCP-Connected Political Elites

William Ding, CEO of NetEase, gave $25.1 million from 2020 to 2021. Ding served as a Representative of the 11th Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress and sits on the 13th CPPCC.

Diana Chen, CEO of Pioneer Group Holdings, gave $6.2 million in 2023. Chen has served on the Beijing Committee of the 11th, 12th, and 13th CPPCC and is an Executive Member of the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA), which is subordinate to the United Front Work Department of the CCP.

C. C. Tung and Harriet W. Tung gave $3 million from 2020 to 2024. C. C. Tung (Tung Chee-chen) is the Governor of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), supervised by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). In July 2022, the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center warned state and local leaders that the CPAFFC and the United Front Work Department may exploit sister-city agreements to advance Beijing’s interests. A Jamestown Foundation analysis characterized CUSEF as a vehicle for United Front “lobbying laundering.”

The Stanford Review noted:

Stanford reports foreign gifts and contracts as required by federal law, though it does not always disclose the source of the funds.

What the disclosures show is a university that studies Chinese influence operations while accepting money from the people who run them.

Without a transparency mechanism for foreign gifts and contracts, the public has no way to know which researchers are funded by whom, or to what end.

Perhaps the millions of dollars from Chinese state-linked companies and elites connected to Beijing help explain why Stanford has become a haven for the radical left:

American Communist Party spotted canvassing at Stanford. pic.twitter.com/UxzUGarK4P
— The Stanford Review (@StanfordReview) January 11, 2026

We’ve got an update from the Stanford hunger strikers, who are back and charging in with full-blown moral superiority. One leads off with, “As a Muslim, specifically, I have a responsibility to stand up against injustice,” and it only gets more sanctimonious from there.
They’re… pic.twitter.com/CjpmzXmkg7
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) May 15, 2025

🚨 Professor David Palumbo Liu, Stanford University, co-founder of ‘Campus Anti-Fascist Network.’
“When Zionists say they don’t feel safe on campus, I’ve come to see that as they no longer feel immune to criticism of Israel. Get used to it.”
BONUS: Refuses to condemn Antifa. pic.twitter.com/PiVP5iMfOn
— NizNellie3 (@NizNellie3) June 12, 2025
Spy networks at Stanford? 

Meet @ElsaJohnson, an American undergraduate junior at Stanford University who faced transnational repression (as well as her family!) from the Chinese Communist Party including online and physical surveillance on campus.
Our universities have become soft targets for foreign… pic.twitter.com/pOc5GuJrND
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) March 26, 2026

Chinese students pose a unique threat to American universities. In August, we hosted an event on how to prevent academic espionage on campus. Listen to these Stanford students describe how the Chinese Communist Party exploits Chinese students studying abroad to collect… pic.twitter.com/Wrn2YSWdQC
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) November 11, 2025
Meanwhile, foreign adversaries plowed $800 million into universities in 2024 (data via think tank American for Public Trust). 

Tens of billions of dollars from overseas have flowed into universities over the decades. 

The foreign-funding money trail may help explain why many universities have become fertile ground for Marxist radicalization, anti-capitalist ideology, and increasingly hostile views toward America’s political and economic system.

From a national security perspective, the concern here is not just about money flowing into classrooms, but about whether this foreign-linked funding is radicalizing the future generation. Short answer: yes. 

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/02/2026 – 22:10