Former president Trump says that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg "was handpicked and funded by George Soros," claiming that the liberal billionaire gave more than $1 million to Bragg. The theme has been picked up by other Republicans, with many House members calling Bragg “Soros-backed” or “Soros-funded” or even “Soros DA.” Trump’s rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, referred to “Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney.” Soros never directly funded Bragg, but instead contributed to a group that supported Bragg and other liberal candidates seeking to be prosecutors, reports the Washington Post Fact Checker. The repeated mention of Soros plays into antisemitic conspiracy theories that Soros, a Hungarian American Holocaust survivor, is a wealthy puppet-master who works behind the scenes to manipulate elections and further his goals.
The Trump campaign defended Trump’s focus on Soros. “It’s not antisemitic to point out Soros funded/supported Bragg,” said spokesman Steven Cheung. Soros has a particular interest in funding efforts to overhaul the U.S. criminal justice system, such as treating drug addiction as a disease, not a crime, ending money bail, and reducing racial inequities in prison sentences. Tom Watson, editorial director at Open Society Foundations, Soros’s grant-making organization, said the group has spent more than $200 million on promoting criminal justice initiatives since 1996. Bragg, who in 2021 narrowly won the Democratic primary against a much-better-funded candidate, would be the type of prosecutor favored by Soros. He never made a contribution to Bragg, though Soros’s son and daughter-in-law each contributed a little more than $10,000. Color of Change, a progressive criminal justice group, planned to spend “over one million dollars” on an independent expenditure campaign for Bragg. Soros sent $1 million to Color of Change. There was no understanding between Soros and the PAC that his contribution would go to fund the independent expenditures for Bragg. There is no evidence Soros has influence over Bragg. “George has never met, spoken with or otherwise communicated with Alvin Bragg,” said a Soros spokesperson.