John Kasich, Donald Trump linked to George Soros and his cash
George Soros is a far left leaning billionaire, known for putting millions in the political landscape and GOP candidates Donald Trump and John Kasich are surprisingly linked to Soros and Soros funding.
Kasich and Soros shared headlines as $200,000 exchanged hands ($202,700). This comes after Soros, who has given $7 million to a PAC backing Hillary Clinton this election cycle, has made clear his opposition to the GOP front-runners, saying: “We must reaffirm our commitment to the principles of open society and resist the siren song of the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, however hard that may be.”
The Kasich super PAC New Day For America received the $200,000 in the form of two separate contributions from Scott Bessent, then-chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management LLC, Federal Election Commission data analysed by the Center for Responsive Politics show.
The New Day donation as listed by the FEC as being from “Soros Fund Management, LLC,” presumably because Bessent was working for the firm.
“The contribution … was a personal contribution made by Scott Bessent, a longtime Republican donor. It did not come from George Soros or his company. In the 2016 cycle alone, Mr. Bessent has also contributed to Jeb Bush’s Super PAC (Right to Rise USA), Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Speaker John Boehner,” said Connie Wehrkamp, press secretary for New Day For America.
“Mr. Bessent has also donated to Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul in the past,” she added.
Stanley Druckenmiller contributed $588,375 to the Ohio governor’s “soft money” fund, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Druckenmiller donated a total of $103,375 to Jeb Bush’s Super PAC Right to Rise and $100,000 to America Leads, a PAC supporting New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who dropped out of the race after a poor showing in Tuesday’s primary. Druckenmiller manages a $4.5 billion hedge fund in which $2 billion of Soros’ money is invested.
Soros is not totally an enemy of Trump, despite the long list published here.
Trump actually spent Christmas Eve with George Soros in 2009, according to the New York Post and also funded the Trump Tower in Chicago. According to the Chicago Tribune:
Donald Trump has lined up three New York hedge funds, including money from billionaire George Soros, to invest $160 million in his Chicago skyscraper, a key piece in perhaps the largest construction financing in the city’s history, according to real estate sources and public documents.
Soros gave Donald Trump a mezzanine loan, a bailout to build the Chicago Trump Tower. Mezzanine loans are loans offered with outrageous interest that help the developer on the front end of finance, and which often offer a stake in the building.
Trump was also named in a lawsuit along with Soros in New York surrounding the sale of the GM Building, so it’s not as if Trump only dealt with Soros in Chicago.
George Soros – Festival of Economics 2012 – Trento photo Niccolò Caranti via wikimedia commons
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