Trump lashes out at “Soros” DAs with threat of “sweeping” investigations

Former President Donald Trump is vowing to launch “sweeping” investigations of “Marxist” prosecutors that he suggests are in the pocket of billionaire George Soros.

In a video posted to Truth Social on Thursday, Trump claimed without evidence that the country was being plagued by “Marxist” and “Communist” prosecutors who were being influenced by Soros, a Jewish philanthropist and Democratic mega-donor who has become a frequent feature in far-right conspiracy theories.

The former president promised to “overhaul” the Department of Justice if elected in 2024 and target the prosecutors in “civil rights investigations,” claiming that “these Soros prosecutors appear to be engaging in selective enforcement based on illegal racial discrimination.”

“As we completely overhaul the federal Department of Justice and FBI, we will also launch sweeping civil rights investigations into Marxist local District Attorneys,” Trump said. “And that’s what we have—they are Marxist in many cases.”

Trump, who was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York this month, claimed that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was “hand-picked and funded by George Soros” shortly after news of his indictment broke.

In reality, ties between Soros and Bragg are not as strong as Trump and other Republicans have suggested. There is no evidence that the two men have a personal relationship or have even met or communicated with each other in any way.

The only verified connection is that Soros was one of several major donors to the progressive political action committee (PAC) Color of Change, which in turn made campaign donations to Bragg and other progressive district attorney candidates.

Bragg was elected as district attorney, rather than being “hand-picked” by Soros. As an indirect campaign donor, Soros did play a role in getting Bragg elected, although the same could be said for anyone else who donated to Color of Change or his campaign.

While Trump did not specifically mention Bragg in the video released on Thursday, he did single out a “Soros prosecutor in Austin, Texas”—a reference to Travis County District Attorney José Garza, who prosecuted Daniel Perry, an Uber driver and Army veteran recently convicted of murdering a “Black Lives Matter” protester in 2020.

Republicans have railed against Garza for allegedly being “Soros-owned,” with the prosecutor also having received campaign contributions from a PAC to which Soros donated, while GOP Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to pardon Perry.

Trump said that his return to the White House would usher in “a complete investigation into the use of police state tactics by federal authorities to arrest conservatives and Christians,” promising to “hold them totally accountable.”

The former president also suggested that he would attempt to intervene in the activities of private law firms and state bar associations, saying he would work to “reform the far-left Bar Associations and stop the purge of Conservative lawyers from major law firms.”

In addition, Trump promised to replace federal prosecutors with “the 100 most ferocious legal warriors against crime and Communist corruption that this country has ever seen.”

“I will appoint U.S. Attorneys who will be the polar opposite of the Soros district attorneys and others that are being appointed throughout the United States,” Trump said. “Very unfair to our population, very unfair to our country.”

Trump has targeted his political opponents with links to Soros in the past, including amplifying a false claim that his potential 2024 GOP primary rival Ron DeSantis has been “endorsed” by the billionaire.

In February, the former president on Truth Social linked to an article from far-right misinformation site The Gateway Pundit, featuring the headline “The Kiss of Death—Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Endorsed by George Soros.”

Newsweek has reached out via email to Soros’ Open Society Foundations for comment.