by WorldTribune Staff, February 6, 2017
Leftist billionaire George Soros poured millions of dollars into Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid and generously padded the campaign coffers of many Democratic Party candidates in 2016. Soros’s donations to GOP candidates, however, have mostly flown under the radar.
Soros gave $202,700 to Republican presidential candidate John Kasich, making Soros one of the Kasich campaign’s top funders, according to a Feb. 5 report by WorldNetDaily (WND).
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s campaign received $10,800 from Soros, the same amount the billionaire invested in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s campaign.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina received $3,500 in donations from Soros Fund Management employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics data. That includes $1,500 from Soros Fund Management executive Scott Bessent.
Other Republican congressional recipients of past Soros contributions, according to the WND report, included Sen. John McCain of Arizona ($2,500); Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida ($2,700); Rep. Joe Heck on Nevada ($2,700); Rep. John Boehner of Ohio ($2,600); Rep. Ed Royce of California ($2,500); Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida ($1,000); Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa ($1,000); Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin ($1,000); Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington ($1,000); and Rep. Dan Donovan of New York ($300).
During the 2016 presidential primaries, Soros said: “The intense anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has been fueled by the Republican primary is deeply offensive. There should be consequences for the outrageous statements and proposals that we’ve regularly heard from candidates (Donald) Trump and (Ted) Cruz.”
Soros’s personal fortune stands at about $24 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“Soros has aided hundreds of left-wing groups since 2000 under the auspices of his Open Society Foundations promoting environmental activism, gun control, immigration groups, opposition to voter ID laws and anti-police groups like Black Lives Matter,” WND said. “In one year, Soros funding of at least $33 million helped persuade the public that Michael Brown was murdered by a police officer in the city of Ferguson, Missouri.”
Soros’s Open Society Foundations says it has spent some $13 billion over the past three decades.
The billionaire’s organizations have also donated between $1.5 million and $6 million to the Clinton Foundation.