The White House accused the left-wing organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) of “blatant hypocrisy” on Wednesday after its executive director claimed the United States has become “hostile to human rights” under President Donald Trump.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, HRW executive director Philippe Bolopion argued that the Trump administration shows “disregard for human rights and the rule of law.” The White House responded in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, criticizing HRW’s political bias and funding sources.
“So-called ‘Human Rights Watch’ claims to support ‘human rights’ while attacking peace deals that save lives, opposing the deportation of criminal illegal aliens that threaten public safety, and supporting transgender youth surgeries that put vulnerable kids at risk,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said. “This is blatant hypocrisy. Far-Left Human Rights Watch merits absolutely zero credibility.”
Bolopion specifically criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis and accused the administration of using inflammatory rhetoric toward billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations network.
“These events are in line with the Trump administration’s disregard for human rights and the rule of law,” Bolopion said, referring to recent shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, which he claimed were not legally justified. He also described ICE’s practices as “extremely problematic.”
Bolopion further suggested that he might be barred from returning to the United States or that HRW could face pressure from the government due to the administration’s stance toward Soros-funded organizations.
After President Trump signed a memorandum in September aimed at combating domestic terrorism and organized political violence — weeks after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — he remarked that antifa rioters in Portland were “paid a lot of money by rich people.”
When asked who he was referring to, Trump replied, “Soros is a name certainly that I keep hearing,” also mentioning LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.
“We hear the same names, but they’re bad, and we’re going to find out. And if they are funding these things, they’re going to have some problems, because they’re agitators and they’re anarchists,” Trump added.
As Wales noted, HRW criticized Trump’s Gaza peace plan, calling it “no substitute for urgent action.” The organization also condemned FIFA for awarding Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize in December.
HRW has a long record of hostility toward Israel and has been accused of selective outrage. Despite portraying itself as a human rights advocate, the group did not condemn an Iranian strike on an Israeli hospital in June, according to the Washington Free Beacon. It also dismissed Trump’s Washington Accords peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda as offering “promises, but little more.”
The group has also taken strong positions in favor of medical gender transitions for minors. After Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 banning chemical and surgical sex-change procedures for children, and another order in February protecting women’s sports from male athletes, HRW claimed the policies amounted to “a federal assault on transgender rights.”
According to InfluenceWatch, HRW receives significant funding from left-wing foundations, including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Soros pledged $100 million to HRW over ten years beginning in 2010.
HRW has frequently accused the United States of human rights abuses, including before Trump’s first term began in 2017. Former executive director Kenneth Roth labeled Trump and other world leaders “anti-rights crusaders” in 2019.
That pattern has continued, with Bolopion claiming this week that Trump would overlook “atrocities” for diplomatic purposes, while HRW’s newly released 2026 World Report devotes ten pages to criticizing the United States.
