Democrat Rips Republicans On House Judiciary Committee For 'Blatant Antisemitism'
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Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on Monday accused Republicans of “blatant antisemitism” for repeatedly invoking George Soros’ name amid their attacks on the Manhattan district attorney leading a criminal probe into former President Donald Trump.
Goldman, one of two Jewish members of Congress from New York, leveled his charge at Republicans after an hours-long House Judiciary Committee hearing in Manhattan.
“With antisemitic violence at record highs, today’s hearing confirmed that invoking George Soros’s name is nothing short of blatant antisemitism,” he tweeted after the hearing. “I call on all Republicans to stop using this antisemitic trope immediately.”
With antisemitic violence at record highs, today’s hearing confirmed that invoking George Soros’s name is nothing short of blatant antisemitism.
I call on all Republicans to stop using this antisemitic trope immediately. pic.twitter.com/8gJtlCe29r— Rep. Dan Goldman (@RepDanGoldman) April 17, 2023
The hearing itself was a stunt. Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a close ally of former President Donald Trump, held it in New York City and billed it as a review of District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s bad policies on crime. Earlier this month, Bragg presented evidence that led a grand jury to charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with an alleged scheme to cover up two extramarital affairs with hush money payments in order “to influence the 2016 presidential election.”
But GOP members used the hearing to tie Bragg to Soros, too. Several tried to cast Bragg as being part of a network of progressive district attorneys around the country who are weak on crime and who are all massively financed by Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and Democratic mega-donor.
“To the extent that there is an impact on crime rates in major cities, I would suggest that that is exactly what you get with the Soros-ization of the United States justice system,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who is also a close Trump ally.
“The Soros prosecutors are not doing their jobs,” said Rep. Thomas Tiffany (R-Wis.), lumping in Milwaukee’s district attorney with Bragg. “In Wisconsin, now we’ve got a Soros Supreme Court justice. The people of Wisconsin better hang on because violent crime is going to get worse.”
“We can stop [crime] if we had good prosecutors,” added Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.). “Who’s funding these progressive district attorneys? We should know that. Well, it’s George Soros.”
In reality, New York City is one of the safest big cities in the country. Manhattan crime is down this year. Bragg’s policies likely haven’t had any significant effect on crime trends in Manhattan. And Soros never directly gave any money to Bragg. He contributed to a progressive criminal justice nonprofit, Color of Change, which supported Bragg and other Democratic candidates running for district attorney slots in 2021. Spokespeople for Soros and Color of Change have said there was never any coordination between the two.
Conservatives have long tried to demonize Soros. The Hungarian American Holocaust survivor has been the focus 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 grounded in antisemitism. He received a bomb in the mail in 2018 at a time when Trump was piling on attacks against him. The Anti-Defamation League found that same year that Soros had been the target of a huge number of antisemitic tweets.
As Monday’s hearing was underway, Goldman made it clear that the implication by Republicans was that Bragg and other left-leaning prosecutors were operating at the direction of Soros, which feeds into the antisemitic trope that Jewish people control money and politics.
“Today we’ve already heard two members of the majority reference what one called the ‘Soros-ization 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 Mr. Soros-supported prosecutors are antisemitic.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) has an aide display an image of a demonstrator carrying a sign about philanthropist George Soros outside the site of the House Judiciary Committee field hearing in New York City. He ripped Republicans for making antisemitism a feature of their political attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The New York Democrat said Republicans only needed to look outside the hearing room to see the ugly consequences of their efforts to smear Soros.
“When I was walking in here, there was a man outside with a sign,” said Goldman, as an aide held up a poster with an image of this sign on it. “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 Republicans’ witnesses, Barry Borgen, a Bragg critic whose son was the victim of an antisemitic hate crime.
“Would you say that’s antisemitic?” Goldman asked, motioning to the sign.
“That’s 100% antisemitic, and it’s disgusting,” Borgen replied. “Disgusting.”
