George Soros denies knowing Manhattan District attorney Alvin Bragg as Republicans invoked the liberal billionaire in their attacks on the DA.
Bragg’s investigation into hush money payment Donald Trump authorized to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election, led to an indictment of the former president on Thursday.
Trump was defiant in his response, insisting that he did nothing wrong and claims Bragg was “hand-picked and funded by George Soros.”
But, in a statement to Semafor on Friday, Soros denied contributing to Bragg’s election campaign and said he is not associated with him.
“I did not contribute to his campaign and I don’t know him,” Soros said of Bragg. “I think some on the right would rather focus on far-fetched conspiracy theories than on the serious charges against the former president,” he added.
Soros is a prominent supporter of liberal causes including criminal justice reform. In 2021, he donated $1 million to the Color of Change PAC, an advocacy group that promotes criminal justice reform. The PAC, spent $500,000 to support Bragg’s election. The group, which supports other progressive district attorneys across the country, said Soros’ donation was not intended to fund Bragg alone or influence his decision.
“Soros didn’t give us money to give to Alvin Bragg. Soros made a donation to Color of Change,” Color of Change president and PAC spokesperson Rashad Robinson said.
Michael Vachon, a spokesperson for Soros, told CNN last week that Soros and Bragg “have never meet in person or spoken by telephone, email, Zoom etc. There has been no contact between the two.”
