More than 100 progressive philanthropies have joined together to counter claims that liberal groups are financially supporting violent protests aimed at President Donald Trump and conservatives.
Organizations including the Open Society Foundations — a grant-making network helmed by billionaire George Soros’ son Alex — on Wednesday posted an open letter on Medium insisting they exist “to bring people together, not drive them apart.”
The letter came less than a week after the chair of the National Legal and Policy Center, a nonprofit watchdog that monitors and reports on the ethics of public officials, sent a strongly worded “cease-and-desist” letter to the Open Society Foundations following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, claiming it financially supports groups that organize violent and vitriolic anti-Trump protests and demanding it stop.
Two days after Kirk’s murder, Trump said his administration would investigate George Soros and members of his family for potential racketeering charges related to protests linked to unrest across the country.
In their letter, the philanthropist organizations insisted they “remain committed to uniting across divides and partisanship.”
“Our country is built on the premise that everyone has the right to express themselves, even when others don’t agree with or like what they say. No one should fear for their safety simply for expressing their views,” the letter said, which mentioned Kirk’s killing and the murder of Minnesota House Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman.
“We must all forcefully condemn these heinous acts as affronts to the fundamental principles and health of our nation — and as charitable giving organizations, including those working in communities impacted by these tragedies, we do.”
Prosecutors brought a murder charge Tuesday against Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating Kirk, and outlined evidence, including a text message confession to his partner and a note left beforehand saying he had the opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices “and I’m going to take it.”
The suspect in Hortman’s death, however, said his actions “didn’t involve” either Trump or abortion.
In addition to the Open Society Foundations, other groups that signed the philanthropists’ letter included the Ford Foundation, the California Black Freedom Fund, the David Rockefeller Fund, the Latino Community Foundation, the Foundation for Systemic Change, the Knight Foundation, the Omidyar Network, funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and the Schmidt Family Foundation, funded by the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
The Miami Herald reported Friday that 23 House Republicans demanded a formal congressional investigation into what they call “radical left” networks after the fatal shooting of Kirk.
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