George Soros Denies GOP Conspiracy Suggesting He Backed DA Bragg

Topline

Billionaire George Soros, who has been tied to a number of Republican-led conspiracy theories, denied contributing to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s election campaign and said he is not associated with him Friday, ahead of an indictment of former President Donald Trump, who claimed Bragg was “hand-picked and funded” by Soros.

Billionaire George Soros denies ever having backed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.

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Key Facts

Soros, responding to a message from Semafor Friday, said he did not contribute to Bragg’s campaign and added: “I don’t know him.”

The billionaire noted that he thinks “some on the right” would prefer to focus on the “far-fetched” conspiracy theories linking him to Bragg rather than “on the serious charges against the former president.”

Michael Vachon, a spokesperson for Soros, told CNN last week that Soros and Bragg “have never met in person or spoken by telephone” and emphasized there has been no contact between them previously.

Echoing criticism from other GOP lawmakers—including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and J.D. Vance (Ohio)—Trump, who previously called Bragg “a highly controversial, George Soros-backed District Attorney,” has claimed Bragg has received “EXCESS OF ONE MILLION DOLLARS” from Soros.

Though Soros did not make any direct contributions to Bragg’s campaign, his son Jonathan and daughter-in-law Jennifer gave more than $20,000 combined to Bragg’s 2021 campaign, according to the New York State Board of Elections.

Forbes Valuation

Soros, who managed a New York-based hedge fund from 1969 to 2011, is worth $6.7 billion, according to our latest estimates.

Chief Critic

Trump, in response to his indictment over an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, said on Truth Social that Bragg, “who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace.” Trump suggested that “rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on.”

Key Background

Soros, known for his philanthropy to progressive causes, had been tied to Bragg after he made a $1 million donation to the Color of Change PAC that supported Bragg’s 2021 election campaign. The group spent $500,000 to support Bragg’s campaign, though an official told CNBC the money Soros donated was not intended to directly fund Bragg or influence his prosecutorial decisions. Soros expressed his support for criminal justice reforms in a 2018 Wall Street Journal column, where he advocated for more preventive measures and mental-health resources while arguing there is no correlation between prosecutorial reform and a rise in crime.

Tangent

Soros has been tied to other false claims by Republicans in recent years, including accusations he orchestrated protests against the police killing of George Floyd and the national anthem in the NFL. He has also been accused by Republicans as having funded Central American migrant caravans in 2018 and demonstrations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. Some Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, have said the unfounded claims surrounding Soros are built on an antisemitic trope that Jewish people are behind a shadow campaign to influence society and world order. The Anti-Defamation League noted that “even if no antisemitic insinuation is intended,” the implication that a Jewish individual is a “puppet master” can have “the effect of mainstreaming antisemitic tropes.”