The foundation started by billionaire Democratic donor George Soros is responding to a threat of investigation by the U.S. government.
President Trump said Thursday that Soros was “a likely candidate” for prosecution, though it wasn’t clear what the charge would be. Soros, a billionaire financier, makes personal donations to Democrats and also founded the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which have donated to causes around the world.
In her first interview since OSF became a target, its president Binaifer Nowrojee spoke with NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
“This is not about George Soros,” she said. “This is about the United States slowly losing its democracy bit by bit in ways that we’ve seen elsewhere in the world.”
“I grew up in Kenya under dictatorship,” she added. “And it is not a good road to go down.”
Trump discussed Soros while musing about who he would like to prosecute as the Justice Department more aggressively pursues investigations into some of his perceived enemies. Trump administration officials — including Vice President J.D. Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller have — have talked of a crackdown on liberal groups after the murder of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, accusing them of fomenting violence.
The OSF insists its activities are peaceful and legal, but it is unclear that this would matter. Last week the government procured an indictment of former FBI director James Comey despite questions about the strength of the case from the top federal prosecutor in Northern Virginia, among others. Trump installed his personal lawyer as an interim U.S. attorney to have Comey prosecuted on charges of lying to Congress. Attorney General Pam Bondi went along with the president, who had urged her in a social media post to prosecute Comey — contradicting her own testimony before Congress that she would act independently. The resulting indictment lacked the supporting evidence that is commonly included in such documents.
The pursuit of OSF would represent an escalation. While Comey was targeted for retribution for his actions while in office, Soros was never in government.
Emily Tamkin, who wrote a book about Soros’ influence, asserts that the president is “trying to expand the definition of terrorism” to include “non-profit organizations that he doesn’t like because of the work that they do.”
You can listen to Nowrojee’s interview at the button above. Here are some highlights:
She says OSF is preparing for government pressure
“Everything that we do is legal,” Nowrojee said. “Our activities are peaceful and lawful. Our grantees are required by the grant contract to abide by human rights principles and the law. So we have not done anything that we need to do differently. But we are getting ready for whatever comes in by way of investigation or prosecution.”
OSF has given billions of dollars in grants around the world
The money has gone to activists, universities, and journalists. A list of recipients includes the American Civil Liberties Union, Arizona for Abortion Access, Amnesty International, and American University — and that’s just a few of the A’s. Further down the list is a 2016 grant to NPR.
Nowrojee declined to label her work “liberal” or anything else. “A lot of our work is around civic engagement and ensuring that all people have the ability to engage in selecting their government or holding their government accountable. And as a result, we get accused of … trying to overthrow governments … What we’re trying to do is ensure that all human beings, wherever they are, have the ability to access their rights.”
Soros is a main character in right-wing conspiracy theories
The president appeared to refer to this while naming Soros as a target: “He’s in every story that I read. Stories that I read keep talking about Soros. And so, you know, I guess he’d be a likely candidate.”
Although Soros, 95, has stepped back from public life, his son Alexander Soros is now chairman of his foundations. Trump has focused on them for years, and in August demanded that both be charged under a racketeering law.
Nowrojee says that some, though not all, Soros’ critics are driven by his identity. “George Soros is Jewish by religion, and that also comes up as an issue. And it’s ironic, because he’s sometimes also accused of being antisemitic, even as he’s Jewish.”
The OSF president sees a parallel between the U.S. and Hungary
In recent years, the OSF was driven out of Soros’ home country, Hungary, by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a right-wing populist seen by many U.S. conservatives as a role model.
“Our support was to universities, independent universities, free media libraries, scholarships. It was the opening up after the Iron Curtain came up,” Nowrojee said.
“When Prime Minister Viktor Orbán came in — who, by the way, is a recipient of a scholarship from Open Society Foundations — he basically adopted what we are seeing in the United States, which is this kind of us and them, an enemy. And he turned Open Society Foundation into a political target and vilified in particular, George Soros personally portraying him as an enemy of the state.”
OSF eventually had to withdraw from Hungary. But as for the United States, Nowrojee said, “We’re not afraid. Open Society has seen this sort of phenomenon of political attacks against us in different parts of the world. We’ve stood up against that. We remain true to our values and to our mandate to promote rights and equity and justice.”
This interview was produced and edited by Kaity Kline and Adam Bearne, with the digital version edited by Obed Manuel.
Transcript:
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: President Trump is talking about a criminal investigation of a liberal philanthropist. And today, we have the first response from George Soros’ foundation. Last week, as the Justice Department obeyed Trump’s order to have a former FBI director indicted, Trump took a question about who he might like to prosecute next.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because if you look at Soros, he’s at the top of every – in fact, sometimes they say, could he be involved in this many things? But he’s in every story that I read. The stories that I read keep talking about Soros. And so, you know, I guess he’d be a likely candidate.
INSKEEP: Soros is a big donor to Democrats. His Open Society Foundations also support liberal causes. In the foundation’s New York offices, its president, Binaifer Nowrojee, gave the organization’s first interview since it became a target.
BINAIFER NOWROJEE: This is not about George Soros. This is about the United States slowly losing its democracy bit by bit in ways that we’ve seen elsewhere in the world.
INSKEEP: How, if at all, are you preparing this organization for investigation or what you may see as attack?
NOWROJEE: So everything that we do is legal. Our activities are peaceful and lawful. Our grantees are required by the grant contract to abide by human rights principles and the law. So we have not done anything that we need to do differently, but we are getting ready for whatever is – comes in by way of investigation or prosecution.
INSKEEP: Her organization’s founder is an immigrant and a Holocaust survivor and a billionaire financier and a philanthropist and an eternal character in right-wing conspiracy theories, as he once acknowledged in an interview on this program.
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GEORGE SOROS: ‘Cause I consider myself a mainstream American of Hungarian origin. But the way I’m depicted is some kind of an extremist that is a traitor to America and American values and so on, which is when I’m actually here to preserve those values.
INSKEEP: That interview with me was 20 years ago, yet Soros’ influence and his image remain little changed. In addition to his personal political donations, his foundation support activists, universities and journalists around the world. The foundation’s list of grant recipients include the American Civil Liberties Union, Arizona for Abortion Access, Amnesty International and American University. And that’s just a few of the As. Further down the list is a grant nine years ago to NPR, though we cover them like anybody else. At age 95, Soros has stepped back, but his son, Alexander, is the foundation’s chairman, as Nowrojee directs its operations.
I think that people have used the label liberal for your work. Do you accept that label?
NOWROJEE: I stay away from those labels because I actually think a lot of our work is around civic engagement and ensuring that all people have the ability to engage in selecting their government or holding their government accountable. And as a result, we get accused of being opposition or trying to overthrow governments, and that’s actually not at all what we’re doing. What we’re trying to do is ensure that all human beings, wherever they are, have the ability to access their rights.
INSKEEP: The journalist Emily Tamkin wrote a book about the Soros foundations. She says Soros’ critics play up the image of a globalist Jewish financier, blaming him for everything from illegal immigration to Black Lives Matter protests.
EMILY TAMKIN: And it’s true that you can find groups that have received money from Soros that participate in those protests, but that is very different from saying that Soros is the reason that people are out protesting on the streets, an allegation that overassigns agency to Soros and strips it from those groups.
INSKEEP: As we talked, I read Tamkin a social media post from August by Donald Trump, which said Soros and his son should be prosecuted under a racketeering law.
TAMKIN: OK. First of all, Open Society does not support violence, but I even feel like spending time explaining that misses the point. The point is that the president is trying to expand the definition of terrorism, of national security threat, of crime to include philanthropic or nonprofit organizations that he doesn’t like because of the work that they do.
INSKEEP: The group president, Binaifer Nowrojee, worked for Open Society for decades before becoming its president last year, and she says their situation feels familiar.
NOWROJEE: So I grew up in Kenya under dictatorship, and many of our staff in this organization have grown up in places and have ended up working for Open Society because they have experienced what the U.S. is beginning to experience, and it is not a good road to go down. And ultimately, it’s a road to dictatorship and sometimes violence and injustice.
INSKEEP: There’s a conservative group that alleged that this foundation gave something like $2.3 million to a Palestinian human rights group called the Al-Haq…
NOWROJEE: Correct.
INSKEEP: …Foundation. They say it is a group that has some kind of ties to a group that has been accused of terrorist activity. What is this group? Why do you fund them?
NOWROJEE: So Open Society Foundations funds human rights organizations around the world. And for the last 20 years, we’ve supported human rights organizations that are Israeli and human rights organizations that are Palestinian. Al-Haq is a human rights organization that documents violations that have occurred in the occupied territories and in Israel. The Israeli government designated them as a terrorist organization. But again, if you look at the work of Al-Haq, what does it do? It documents violations, human rights violations under the international human rights documents, and that itself is seen to be an act of terrorism in this day and age.
INSKEEP: I want to ask particularly about your organization’s experience in Hungary. It’s a country where there is a populist right-wing leader Viktor Orban, and many American conservatives look to him as a role model, as an example. What happened to the Open Society Foundation in Hungary in recent years?
NOWROJEE: So Open Society Foundations basically had been in Hungary working in Hungary since 1984, and our support was to universities, independent universities, free media, libraries, scholarships. It was the opening up after the Iron Curtain came up. When Prime Minister Viktor Orban came in, who, by the way, is the recipient of a scholarship from Open Society Foundations, he basically adopted what we are seeing in the United States, which is this kind of us and them, an enemy. And he turned Open Society Foundation into a political target and vilified, in particular, George Soros, personally portraying him as an enemy of the state. You have to remember Soros is also Hungarian. What happened after that was that Orban began to close the civic space. So NGOs were prohibited from receiving foreign funding. The Stop Soros law began to criminalize support to refugees or migrants.
INSKEEP: There was a law that was known as the Stop Soros…
NOWROJEE: Soros.
INSKEEP: …Law?
NOWROJEE: Yes. And then, ultimately, OSF opted to leave the country. And I think you can see, you know, how universities become a threat, media becomes a threat. Any other locus of debate or discussion becomes threatening to and is used to silent – dissent has to be silenced.
INSKEEP: Are you afraid?
NOWROJEE: No, we’re not afraid. Open Society has seen this sort of phenomenon of political attacks against us in different parts of the world. We’ve stood up against that. We remain true to our values and to our mandate to promote rights and equity and justice. And so we will exercise all our rights in the courtroom and through the Constitution.
INSKEEP: Binaifer Nowrojee. Thank you so much.
NOWROJEE: Thank you.
INSKEEP: She’s the head of the Open Society Foundations, started by George Soros, who President Trump named as a likely candidate for prosecution as he directs the Justice Department.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIKTOR KVIST’S “THE TIMES THEY ARE A – CHANGIN'”)
