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Politifact: No, George Soros and his foundations do not pay people to protest
Politifact ^ | 06/01/2020 | By Emily Venezky

Posted on 06/08/2020 5:46:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

If Your Time is short

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has been accused for years of directly funding and even orchestrating protests.

This includes false claims that Soros financially supported the first national Women’s March and organized the Charlottesville, Va., protests and counter-protests in 2017.

In a series of tweets, Candace Owens, a conservative commentator, claimed that George Soros and his Open Society Foundations had hired the protesters that started fires and raided stores during protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd.

The Minneapolis chief of police just confirmed that many of the protesters that are burning down the city are NOT FROM MINNEAPOLIS.

My guess: As he did with Antifa, Democrat George Soros has these thugs on payroll.

He is funding the chaos via his Open Society Foundation. pic.twitter.com/ZWDQfLUjfa— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) May 28, 2020

She at first tweeted that it was her "guess" that "Democrat George Soros has these thugs on payroll. He is funding the chaos via his Open Society Foundation." She went on to tweet that the foundation had to "throw money at black Americans to riot" and that Soros and the foundation "got what you wanted in Minnesota." We reached out to Owens for additional comment and did not hear back.

Open Society Foundations is a liberal grant-making network that is "the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights." Their network funds programs in more than 120 countries, including work in the United States that "focuses on immigration and criminal justice reform, improving democratic participation, and supporting free and independent media."

The Open Society Foundations’ official Twitter account responded to her tweet that they "oppose all violence and do not pay people to protest" and that these were "baseless allegations."

Hi Candace, Mr. Soros and the Open Society Foundations oppose all violence and do not pay people to protest.

We lament the effort, through baseless allegations, to distract from the crisis of police brutality in Minneapolis and in too many other parts of the country.

Featured Fact-check

Facebook posts
stated on June 1, 2020 in a Facebook post
true false
By Madison Czopek • June 2, 2020
— Open Society Foundations (@OpenSociety) May 28, 2020

An Open Society Foundations representative told PolitiFact that the foundation "supports the First Amendment right of all Americans to make their voices heard and petition their government for redress of grievances." However, when it comes to rioting, "George Soros and the foundations oppose violence in any and all forms," they said.

The foundation does give grants every one or two years to U.S. organizations that work to "advance racial justice and to make police forces more accountable to the communities they serve." They then listed a few, including the Community Resource Hub for Safety and Accountability, a website that keeps a database of resources and grassroot organizations related to policing in the United States.

PolitiFact could find no evidence that Soros or the Open Society Foundations had contributed to any organization that financed street protests in Minneapolis.

Owens also claimed that the Open Society Foundations gave $33 million to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The claim that George Soros funded the Ferguson protests and Black Lives Matter was checked by Snopes in 2015, and it received a mixed rating. Snopes said that Open Society Foundations has donated $33 million to organizations that have worked with Black Lives Matter or worked to raise awareness during the Ferguson-related protests. However, they had never given money to groups for the express purpose of organizing protests with the movement.

The representative from Open Society Foundations said that their grants are made to organizations to help them "support communities and advance policy change."

We didn’t find any evidence that the foundation has given money directly to the Black Lives Matter movement. The most recent connection they have with the organization is their 2018 grant of $279,860 to Release Leads, a UK organization that mostly focuses on international drug use education and policy reform, but also organizes public speaking events that feature the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK.

Our ruling

Owens’ tweet that Soros was "funding the chaos" in Minneapolis through Open Society Foundations is unproven. She continued to claim that the foundation had paid protesters after Open Society Foundations denied it on Twitter.

There is no evidence that Soros or the foundation had given any grants to organizations that funded and organized "the chaos" in Minneapolis. We rate this claim False.


TOPICS: Conspiracy; Society
KEYWORDS: antifa; blm; georgesoros; protests
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To: SeekAndFind

So they laundered the money first...


41 posted on 06/08/2020 7:21:19 AM PDT by Magnatron
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To: SeekAndFind

How can you claim something false with no evidence either way? Could it be you didn’t look well enough if at all?

An example of spin used to cover the backwash of donoring to BLM is the Tides Foundation. They are financially supporting the BLM movement with massive “donations” from people like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and George Soros.

Her are a couple of sources from Soros:

George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society: $10,259,289
George Soros’ Open Society Foundations: $12,130,241

https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/tides-foundation/

Hard to hide numbers, but if the looking people don’t, it makes it a lot easier.

rwood


42 posted on 06/08/2020 7:28:33 AM PDT by Redwood71
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To: SeekAndFind

Word play. Substitute the word ‘riot’ for ‘protest’ in the title and it and the reality emerges.

This is a lie by conflation.


43 posted on 06/08/2020 8:03:25 AM PDT by RideForever (We were born to be tested)
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To: SeekAndFind

He pays other organizations to pay people to protest.


44 posted on 06/08/2020 8:06:04 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Mr. K

I would say devious. He has enough money that he can pretty well hide his involvement and make “suggestions” about things he think “should” change and his subordinates will pass it down and then their contacts will pass it even lower and then something will happen. “Wasn’t me!”


45 posted on 06/08/2020 8:12:29 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: SeekAndFind

OK, he pays organizations that pay people to protest (and riot).

A distinction without a difference.


46 posted on 06/08/2020 8:31:27 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: Redwood71

After reading the history and activities of the TIDES Foundation, it is clear to me that, it is a classic criminal operation.

The person who organized the infamous ACORN fraud had a $1 million dollar problem...and Pike at Tides paid it off.

And front and center is...TA DA...George Schwartz/Soros.

What an eyeopener. Thanks, Red.


47 posted on 06/08/2020 8:31:31 AM PDT by Maris Crane
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To: SeekAndFind

If any truth harms the commies, it is false.


48 posted on 06/08/2020 8:34:34 AM PDT by deadrock
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes I heard George didn’t pay his tab


49 posted on 06/08/2020 8:52:21 AM PDT by vigilante2 (Make liberals cry again)
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes, they do. With US taxpayer money.


50 posted on 06/08/2020 9:01:12 AM PDT by oil_dude
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To: SeekAndFind

There are no facts at Politi”Fact.”


51 posted on 06/08/2020 9:31:56 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: SeekAndFind

No, George Soros and his foundations do not pay people to protest



No, they pay them to riot.
52 posted on 06/08/2020 9:32:45 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Proof:

https://cloverchronicle.com/2020/05/30/is-this-proof-george-soros-is-funding-the-riots-taking-place-in-america/


53 posted on 06/08/2020 9:34:26 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: faithhopecharity

Do you links supporting this info per Poynter?


54 posted on 06/08/2020 9:35:34 AM PDT by Pietro
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To: SeekAndFind

Strange, yesterday I saw a video of someone admitted he got paid to protest by Soro organization, he even recommenced to visit the site to sign up. Could be fake news


55 posted on 06/08/2020 9:38:46 AM PDT by Popman
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To: SeekAndFind

Herr SSoro$ funnels it through enough of his own channels to provide plausible deniability. But claiming he didn’t fund it is like claiming the Hillary Clinton campaign didn’t fund the dossier.

Steele paid Russians to provide disinformation.

Steele was paid by Fusion GPS.

Fusion GPS was paid by Perkins Coie.

Perkins Coie was paid by the Clinton campaign and the DNC.

The way Herr SSoro$ funds riots is similar to tha above, only with more layers.


56 posted on 06/08/2020 9:38:52 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: SeekAndFind
The claim that George Soros funded the Ferguson protests and Black Lives Matter was checked by Snopes in 2015

Snopes is even less reliable than Politi"Fact."

57 posted on 06/08/2020 9:39:53 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: Haiku Guy
protest is what Black Lives Matter does.

False. Race rioting is what Black Lives Matter does.

58 posted on 06/08/2020 9:41:22 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: faithhopecharity

So Herr SSoro$’s subsidiary says that Herr SSoro$ isn’t funding the riots.

And we’re supposed to believe them???


59 posted on 06/08/2020 9:44:08 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: Dr. Sivana

It gives him plausible deniability.


60 posted on 06/08/2020 9:45:03 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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