Sen Tom Cotton urges DOJ probe Chinese influence on US AI

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on June 10, 2026, requesting a DOJ investigation into foreign influence efforts targeting the buildout of American AI infrastructure, according to Cotton's own office and Fox News. In the letter, Cotton wrote that "a network of foreign actors, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is attempting to manipulate U.S. policy and public opinion on data centers," while acknowledging that "Americans certainly have valid concerns about potential rising energy costs and strains on natural resources related to data centers." He separately told Fox News Digital, "Americans should decide their own future free of communist propaganda."

Cotton's letter cites a Bitcoin Policy Institute report alleging a multi-year, multi-vector influence campaign. It names a network of U.S. nonprofits funded by Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American expatriate whom Cotton describes as under U.S. government scrutiny for ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and states that investigations have found the Chinese government to be the network's "ultimate paymaster." The letter says foreign-funded charitable entities tied to the campaign have reportedly funneled more than $2 billion into U.S. advocacy organizations, and cites a Bernie Sanders-hosted panel on "the existential threat of AI" in which two of four panelists were Chinese government affiliates, including a Tsinghua University professor. Fox News additionally names activist Jodie Evans as connected to networks referenced in the reporting.

Cotton's letter notes that despite congressional review of "several of these matters," no entity in the named network has been charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and he is asking DOJ to open a full investigation. Campaigns that foreground environmental or grid-impact concerns have already influenced data-center siting and permitting in multiple jurisdictions; prolonged opposition or new regulatory scrutiny of advocacy-group funding could add delay and compliance overhead for teams planning large-scale AI compute buildouts, independent of whether the underlying foreign-influence allegations are substantiated.

• •Whether the DOJ opens a formal investigation or otherwise responds to Cotton's letter.
• •Any FARA enforcement action against the nonprofits or individuals named in the Bitcoin Policy Institute report.
• •Further independent reporting or fact-checking of the report's funding-flow claims, including the $2 billion figure.

The letter reflects a broader pattern of framing opposition to AI infrastructure buildout, whether motivated by energy costs, local environmental concerns, or geopolitics, as a matter of national-security scrutiny. Cotton's dual role as Intelligence Committee chairman lends the request institutional weight, but the underlying allegations currently rest on a single non-governmental think tank's report and Cotton's own characterization of it, rather than an independent government or judicial finding, and DOJ has not yet indicated whether it will act.