Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has confirmed that he will be investigating GoFundMe for shutting down the fundraiser for the Canadian trucker protest in Ottawa, according to a press release.
The statement reads: “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to GoFundMe Inc to investigate potential violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). The crowd-funding platform’s integrity has come into question after it removed a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign for the Canadian truckers ‘Freedom Convoy’ which is protesting vaccine mandates.”
Mr Paxton additionally comments: “GoFundMe’s response to an anti-mandate, pro-liberty movement should ring alarm bells to anyone using the donation platform and, more broadly, any American wanting to protect their constitutional rights.”
He added: “Many Texans donated to this worthy cause. I am acting to protect Texas consumers so that they know where their hard-earned money is going, rather than allowing GoFundMe to divert money to another cause without the consent of Texas citizens. I will get to the bottom of this deceitful action.”
Mr Paxton and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis both tweeted about the issue over the weekend.
Senator Ted Cruz also sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Sunday asking for an investigation into GoFundMe’s practices.
Former President Donald Trump has previously also voiced his support for the truckers’ protest against Covid-19 policies, calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates”.
On Monday, Canadian ministers hit back.
Marco Mendicino, Canada’s public safety minister, said: “It is certainly not the concern of the Texas attorney general as to how we in Canada go about our daily lives in accordance with the rule of law.”
“We need to be vigilant about potential foreign interference. … Whatever statements may have been made by some foreign official are neither here nor there,” Mr Mendicino said during a news briefing.
Canada’s emergency preparedness minister, Bill Blair, also said: “We’re all entitled to an opinion, and in my opinion, [Paxton] is wrong.”
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister of intergovernmental affairs, blamed the GOP interference for inciting disorderly conduct and helping to fund entities that are not respecting Canadian law. Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Mr Paxton was wrong for commenting on it.
Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador to Canada, said groups in the US need to stop funding and interfering in the domestic affairs of America’s neighbour.
GoFundMe said it would refund the vast majority of the millions of dollars raised by demonstrators.
The site said it cut off funding for protest organisers after determining that their efforts violated the site’s terms of service by engaging in unlawful activity.
With reporting from the Associated Press
