Rep. Dan Goldman (DN.Y.) on Monday accused Republicans of “blatant anti-Semitism” for repeatedly invoking the name of George Soros amid their attacks on the Manhattan district attorney who is leading a criminal investigation against former President Donald Trump.
Goldman, one of two Jewish members of Congress from New York, leveled his accusation at Republicans after an hour-long House Judiciary Committee hearing in Manhattan.
“With anti-Semitic violence at record levels, today’s hearing confirmed that invoking the name of George Soros is nothing less than flagrant anti-Semitism,” he said. he tweeted after the hearing. “I call on all Republicans to stop using this anti-Semitic trope immediately.”
The hearing itself was a gimmick. Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a close ally of former President Donald Trump, held the event in New York City, calling it a review of District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s bad crime policies. Earlier this month, Bragg presented evidence that led a grand jury to indicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with an alleged scheme to cover up two extramarital affairs with secret payments to “influence the 2016 presidential election.”
But members of the Republican Party also used the hearing to link Bragg to Soros. Several have tried to paint Bragg as part of a network of progressive district attorneys across the country who are weak on crime and massively funded by Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and Democratic megadonor.
“To the extent that there is an impact on crime rates in major cities, I would suggest that is exactly what you get with the sorosization of the United States justice system,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla .), who is also a close ally of Trump.
“Soros prosecutors are not doing their job,” said Rep. Thomas Tiffany (R-Wis.), lumping the Milwaukee district attorney with Bragg. “In Wisconsin, we now have a Soros Supreme Court Justice. The people of Wisconsin better hang in there because violent crime is going to get worse.”
“We can stop (crime) if we have good prosecutors,” added Rep. Jeff Van Drew (RN.J.). “Who funds these progressive district attorneys? We should know that. Well, it’s George Soros.”
Actually, New York City is one of the safest big cities in the country. Manhattan crime is down this year. Bragg’s policies probably has not had any significant effect about crime trends in Manhattan. and soros never gave money directly to Bragg. He contributed to a progressive criminal justice nonprofit, Color of Change, which endorsed Bragg and other Democratic candidates running for district attorney positions in 2021. Spokesmen for Soros and Color of Change have said he had never no coordination between the two.
Conservatives have long tried to demonize Soros. The Hungarian-American Holocaust survivor has been at the center of wild and unfounded right-wing conspiracy theories claiming that he is the ringleader of a secret radical left agenda, with many of these theories being based on antisemitism. He got a bomb in the mail in 2018 at a time when Trump was stacking attacks against him. The Anti-Defamation League found that same year that Soros had been the target of a large number of anti-Semitic tweets.
As Monday’s hearing unfolded, Goldman made it clear that the Republican implication was that Bragg and other left-wing prosecutors were operating at the direction of Soros, fueling the anti-Semitic trope that Jews control money and politics. .
“We’ve already heard two Majority members today refer to what one called the ‘Sorosization of the criminal justice system,’ which is, of course, a reference to George Soros, a Holocaust survivor who lived the American dream.” . he said. “My constituents are very concerned that these smears related to the prosecutors supported by Mr. Soros are anti-Semitic.”
The New York Democrat said Republicans need only look outside the courtroom to see the ugly consequences of their efforts to smear Soros.
“When I was walking here, there was a man outside with a sign,” Goldman said, as an attendee held up a sign with a picture of this sign. “You saw it, right? There’s a Star of David with two dollar signs and ‘Soros.’”
He directed his final question to one of the Republican witnesses, Barry Borgen, a Bragg critic whose son was the victim of an anti-Semitic hate crime.
“Would you say that is anti-Semitic?” Goldman asked, pointing to the sign.
“That is 100% anti-Semitic and disgusting,” Borgen responded. “Disgusting.”
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