George Soros’ foundation pledges $300M to defend civil liberties, critics point to timing

WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros, announced this week that it’s pledging $300 million toward initiatives it says will defend democratic rights and advance economic security over the next five years.

This is both a moral and material response to a time when rights and freedoms are being rolled back across the country, and far too many people cannot afford the basics even though we live in the wealthiest country in the world,” said Laleh Ispahani, managing director for the U.S. at Open Society, in a press release.

The initiative is structured across two core pillars. Defending civil liberties and the rule of law and expanding civil rights and creating economic opportunity. The funding serves as the first major U.S.-focused initiative approved under the leadership of Alex Soros, George’s son.

Democratic governments must create opportunity for all Americans—not just in principle, but in their daily lives. Guaranteed rights and freedoms are just as critical as broad economic prosperity and are the strongest defense we have against a closed society,” Alex Soros said in that press release.

The new commitment comes as President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress have asked the IRS and DOJ to investigate nonprofits they accuse of supporting domestic terrorism, illegal immigration, or far-left groups.

When the Trump administration really started taking this seriously, I would give a huge shoutout to the Treasury department. Secretary Bessent has taken a lot of action here to look into this opaque funding networks. The Soros network is scared,” said Seamus Bruner, Executive Director of the Government Accountability Institute.

In December, then Attorney General Pam Bondi also ordered law enforcement to investigate nonprofits supporting antifa. At last year’s antifa roundtable, Bruner shared with the Trump administration details of their own investigations. Showing coordination across multiple cities involving people who were paid to participate in the unrest.

It’s not just the Soros network. The Open Society network. It’s other networks. The Arabella funding network, the Tides funding network. Neville Roy Singham and his network. Foreign cash,” Bruner said at the roundtable.

OSF told the Associated Press that, in the past year, it’s provided grants to organizations working to defend the rule of law and push back on policies that try and deter parts of the population from participating in public life. But Bruner believes that defending democracy is a language being used to mask what OSF is up to. Pointing to the timing of this announcement.

When the Soros network and the other dark money networks say that they’re defending democracy or doing some sort of civil rights activity, that can also translate into protest actions. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if we have more of this ‘No Kings’ stuff going into the midterms,” said Bruner.

A spokesperson for OSF told The National News Desk that they’re interested in using this money to fund groups at the national, state and local levels. When asked if an investigation had been launched by the DOJ, they responded, “No, all we know about the DOJ is what we have read in the news.”