The International Republican Institute (IRI)—a nonprofit founded in 1983 and chaired for 25 years by the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ)—receives over $130 million in federal grants, either directly from government programs like those run by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or funneled to it via far-left, open-borders organizations like the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM). Earlier this week, the Trump White House moved to freeze USAID funding, with the agency being absorbed into the State Department.
According to IRI’s internal audits and filings with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the globalist-aligned and anti-Trump nonprofit spent $130.7 million in taxpayer dollars “to strengthen political parties, civil society, marginalized communities, and in other areas essential to democratic governance” in over 100 foreign countries.
Importantly, a 2023 IRI audit document reveals the nonprofit group, which boasts numerous prominent Republican lawmakers as members of its board, is backed through grants directly issued by USAID and the State Department. Foreign governments have accused both federal government agencies of acting as fronts for the U.S. intelligence community and using nonprofits and NGOs like IRI to foment color revolutions to install pro-Western governments in foreign nations.
Additionally, the audit document shows that IRI received additional taxpayer dollars through grants issued by globalist NGOs, which are themselves recipients of federal grants or direct congressional funding. Acting as so-called pass-through entities, the IOM, the Pan American Development Foundation, the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) all funded IRI programs promoting foreign interventionism and regime change. Notably, both the IOM and the Pan American Development Foundation are prominent advocates of globalist open borders policies.
IRI AND THE RUSSIA HOAX.
Even more troubling, at least one former IRI employee was actively involved in the Democratic Party’s Russia hoax and cooperated with the Mueller investigation, which was largely reliant on the discredited Steele Dossier. Sam Patten, a former IRI staffer, pled guilty in 2018 to federal charges that he failed to register as a foreign agent and subsequently provided materials to federal investigators that allegedly tied the Trump campaign to Ukrainian oligarch Konstantin Kilimnik. The latter was accused of being involved in Russian efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
While the Mueller investigation paints Kilimnik as Russian intelligence asset, the truth appears murkier. Kilimnik also worked for IRI for nearly a decade, received a visa to travel to the U.S. from the State Department in 2016, and was revealed to be a source for the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, suggesting the Ukrainian oligarch may have been a U.S. intelligence asset.
NOTABLE GOP BOARD MEMBERS.
The late U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ)—a rabid critic of President Donald J. Trump—served as the chairman of IRI’s board of directors for 25 years, leading the group for most of its existence. Today, the chairman of IRI’s board is U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
Additionally, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) serve on the group’s board. They’re joined by former Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Mitt Romney (R-UT). Matt Pottinger, a former Trump deputy national security advisor who oversaw U.S. policy on China, is also listed as a board member. As is former Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), a close ally of the defense industry and staunch supporter of foreign interventionism.
Meanwhile, the IRI board also counts among its members former U.S. National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, another key figure in fueling the Democratic Party’s Russia hoax against Trump. In a book, McMaster smeared his former boss, President Trump, as being “very offensive” and “brash.” While promoting the book in 2024, McMaster stated he would never consider working for Trump again.
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