The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce has opened an investigation into Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), demanding answers following reports that she may have personally financially benefited from teachers’ union dues.
In a letter sent to Weingarten on July 7, the committee wrote, “The prospect that rank-and-file educators’ dues may have financed a project that generated private financial gain raises serious questions about transparency, accountability and fiduciary responsibility within one of the nation’s largest labor organizations.”
The committee asked Weingarten to provide all documents associated with he book,Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy, which was published by Penguin Random House in September 2025, including documents related to travel for book promotion events.
The Freedom Foundation released a report in May which alleged that the AFT spend “hundreds of thousands of dollars in member dues to finance the writing, publication and promotion” of the book.
According to the findings, AFT paid “over $400,000 to Sally Kohn—identified in the book’s acknowledgements as a ‘day-to-day thought partner and collaborator'—far exceeding the $323,000 the union had paid Kohn in the five prior years combined.”
The report also found that AFT paid "$6,000 for fact-checking, $5,212 for Weingarten’s author photograph and $64,090 in publication expenses to InkWell Management, a literary agency that lists AFT as a client.”
AFT also “made nearly $1 million in payments to a New York law firm whose attorney is credited in the book’s acknowledgements for conducting a legal review of the manuscript,” the report found.
“Despite Weingarten’s public claims that half of all book proceeds would go to AFT charities, financial records suggest the charities received only one-third of early royalties, with another $125,000 paid to Weingarten herself via a newly created, opaque Delaware LLC called Teachers Want What Kids Need,” the Freedom Foundation stated.
Weingarten responded to the allegations on social media on July 8. “Here’s the truth,” she wrote. “We’ve already debunked these false claims.”
She claimed that she published the book in partnership with the AFT and that “half the proceeds” go to the union.
In an interview with J Street promoting her book, Weingarten, a vice chair of J Street, accused U.S. President Donald Trump of using “antisemitic slurs.”
The introduction to her book accused the Trump administration of attacking teachers.
The ATF has faced backlash and prior investigations for failing to address antisemitism within its ranks.
