The conflict between George Soros and Donald Trump reached a new stage in 2025, when Trump, as president, publicly demanded racketeering charges against Soros and his son Alexander, and his Justice Department directed federal prosecutors in at least seven states to prepare investigations of the Open Society Foundations. No charges have been filed. The foundation calls the effort a politically motivated attack on free speech and says it is preparing for litigation.
Why Trump Has Targeted Soros
Soros, 95, is a Hungarian-born billionaire investor who has donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations, which operates in over 100 countries on democratic governance, free expression, and human rights.1George Soros Official Website. The Life of George Soros He is also one of the Democratic Party’s largest donors. A nonprofit linked to his network contributed at least $60 million to the 2024 election.2The Washington Post. Trump Calls for Racketeering Charges Against Top Democratic Donor, Son His son Alexander now chairs the foundation’s board and is himself a major Democratic contributor.3Open Society Foundations. Who We Are
The friction is old. After Trump’s 2016 win, Soros called him “an imposter, a conman and a would-be dictator” at Davos.4BBC News. George Soros: Trump Is a Would-Be Dictator Trump and Republican allies have in turn cast Soros as the hidden hand behind protests, migration, and Democratic prosecutors. Soros-aligned PACs funded campaigns for reform-minded district attorneys covering jurisdictions with roughly 20% of the U.S. population, including Alvin Bragg in Manhattan.5U.S. Congress. Congressional Hearing Document on Soros-Backed Prosecutors When Bragg’s grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023, Trump called Bragg “handpicked and funded by George Soros,” though a Soros spokesperson said the two had never met or communicated. Soros’s actual link was through roughly $4 million he had given the Color of Change PAC between 2016 and 2022, which then supported Bragg’s campaign.6CNN. Trump, Soros, Bragg, and Color of Change
Soros, who is Jewish, has also long been a fixture of conspiracy theories that the Anti-Defamation League has documented as recycling antisemitic tropes about hidden Jewish influence.7Anti-Defamation League. Antisemitism Lurking Behind George Soros Conspiracy Theories Those theories have had real-world consequences. In 2018, Cesar Sayoc mailed a pipe bomb to Soros’s home; he later pleaded guilty to 65 counts and was sentenced to 20 years.8BBC News. George Soros: The Billionaire at the Center of Conspiracy Theories
The August 2025 RICO Demand
On August 27, 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social that “George Soros, and his wonderful Radical Left son, should be charged with RICO because of their support of Violent Protests, and much more, all throughout the United States of America.” He added: “Soros, and his group of psychopaths, have caused great damage to our Country! … Be careful, we’re watching you!”9UC Santa Barbara, The American Presidency Project. Truth Social Posts, August 27, 2025
The Justice Department declined to comment. The Open Society Foundations, through spokesman Sean Savett, called the accusations “outrageous and false” and said the organization “does not support or fund violent protests.”2The Washington Post. Trump Calls for Racketeering Charges Against Top Democratic Donor, Son
How Charlie Kirk’s Killing Turned Rhetoric Into Action
On September 10, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested within 33 hours. In text messages, Robinson wrote: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” Utah’s governor called it a “political assassination,” and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.10Britannica. Assassination of Charlie Kirk
Five days later, Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller announced a strategy to target left-leaning nonprofits. Vance said he would “go after the NGO network that foments, facilitates and engages in violence,” naming the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations. Miller described a “vast domestic terror movement” of NGOs and pledged to use the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security against it.11Politico. Vance, White House Promise to Crack Down on Radical Left Lunatics
The DOJ Directive and the September 25 Memorandum
On September 22, 2025, Aakash Singh, a senior official in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office, sent a directive to U.S. attorney’s offices in at least seven states, including California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Maryland, instructing them to prepare to investigate the Open Society Foundations. The directive listed possible charges: material support for terrorism, arson, wire fraud, and racketeering.12ABC News. DOJ Official Directs Prosecutors to Prepare Probes of George Soros The New York Times reported the directive was a “major break from decades of past practice” meant to insulate the department from political interference.13The New York Times. Justice Department Lays Groundwork for Soros Foundation Probes
On September 25, Trump signed a presidential memorandum titled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.” It directed the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to lead a strategy to investigate and disrupt entities engaged in political violence, told Treasury to examine financial flows, ordered the IRS to check that no tax-exempt entities were funding domestic terrorism, and instructed the Attorney General to prioritize prosecutions including terrorism, money laundering, and Foreign Agents Registration Act violations.14The White House. Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence The memorandum did not name the Open Society Foundations, but it referenced a September 22 order designating Antifa a domestic terrorist organization and broadly targeted “institutional and individual funders” of groups engaged in political violence.15ABC News. Trump Signs Memo Calling for Crackdown on Alleged Organized Political Violence
The same day, Trump told reporters Soros was a “likely candidate” for prosecution because “he’s in every story that I read.”16NPR. George Soros Foundations Investigation, DOJ, Trump
Some of the outside groundwork came from the Capital Research Center, a conservative watchdog led by Scott Walter, which had been briefing senior White House officials since March 2025. On September 17, CRC published a report alleging OSF had contributed over $80 million to groups involved in “terrorism or extremist violence,” language its author described as providing the administration “smoking guns” for RICO charges. Trump announced his Antifa designation the same day.17Congressional Integrity Project. The White House Appears to Be Coordinating With the Capital Research Center
How the Open Society Foundations Has Responded
The foundation issued a formal statement on September 25 saying it “unequivocally condemns terrorism and does not fund terrorism,” described its work as “peaceful and lawful,” and called the administration’s actions “politically motivated attacks on civil society” meant “to silence speech the administration disagrees with and undermine the First Amendment right to free speech.”18Open Society Foundations. Statement on Politically Motivated Attacks on Open Society
OSF President Binaifer Nowrojee, a human rights lawyer who previously investigated sexual violence during the Rwandan genocide for Human Rights Watch, said in interviews that the organization was “getting ready for whatever comes in by way of investigation or prosecution” and was “not afraid.” She framed the fight in broader terms: “This is about the United States slowly losing its democracy bit by bit in ways that we’ve seen elsewhere in the world,” drawing a direct comparison to Hungary, where Viktor Orbán’s government ran a 100 million euro media campaign against Soros, passed “Stop Soros” laws, and forced OSF out of Budapest.16NPR. George Soros Foundations Investigation, DOJ, Trump8BBC News. George Soros: The Billionaire at the Center of Conspiracy Theories
At the UN COP30 climate summit in November 2025, Nowrojee said OSF was prepared to sue the federal government to defend free speech and peaceful protest rights, and would stand behind grantees facing intimidation while acknowledging any grantee engaged in violence “should be held responsible” through the courts.19The Guardian. George Soros Open Society Foundations President Interview Alexander Soros said the foundation had done nothing wrong and would not retreat from its human rights work, saying that would happen only “over my dead body.”20The New York Times. Trump, Soros Foundations, and Donors
The Wider Reaction
The moves against OSF drew sharp reactions from other foundations, lawyers, and civil liberties groups. Georgetown Law Professor David A. Super said the administration’s goal was to “silence other organizations and encourage them to keep their heads down.” The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation issued statements defending OSF. An open letter defending First Amendment rights and philanthropic freedom gathered over 180 signatures, well below the 700-plus signatures a similar letter had collected in April.21Inside Philanthropy. Targeting OSF: Trump Aims for a Chilling Effect on Liberal Funders A separate coalition of 100 organizations warned that “attempts to silence speech, criminalize opposing viewpoints, and misrepresent and limit charitable giving undermine our democracy and harm all Americans.”22The Hill. DOJ Investigates Soros Foundations
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero called the situation a “modern-day McCarthy moment,” accusing Trump of turning “the full weight of the Department of Justice against organizations speaking out against his administration’s increasingly un-American agenda.”23ACLU. ACLU Statement on the Trump Administration’s Investigation Into the Open Society Foundations
Congress has also engaged. On July 15, 2025, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing titled “How Leftist Nonprofit Networks Exploit Federal Tax Dollars to Advance a Radical Agenda,” focused partly on Soros. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin called it an “absurd waste of time” and said no allegations of criminality or illegality were actually presented against Soros at the hearing.24House Democrats Judiciary Committee. Ranking Member Raskin’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing
Where Things Stand
As of mid-2026, no formal criminal charges have been filed against George Soros, Alexander Soros, or the Open Society Foundations. The DOJ directive telling U.S. attorneys to prepare investigative plans has not produced publicly announced indictments. The Open Society Foundations remain operational, with $1.2 billion in total expenditures in 2024 and offices across six continents. Alexander Soros continues to chair the board.25Open Society Foundations. Open Society Foundations Homepage3Open Society Foundations. Who We Are