The Soros Fund Management firm, which is linked to billionaire hedge-funder and virulently anti-Israel George Soros, donated tens of thousands of dollars to opponents of Donald Trump within the Republican Party in 2016, including former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
Soros, who has generously funded left-wing advocacy groups and Democratic politicians alike over the years, was a staunch backer of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
Nevertheless, the Soros Fund, now led by Soros’ son, Robert, gave nearly $40,000 to Republican candidates in the 2016 election cycle.
The list of Republican recipients, disclosed by the lobby monitoring group Center for Responsive Politics, is made up largely of either challengers to Trump’s GOP nomination bid, or establishment figures within the party.
Governors Jeb Bush and John Kasich, as well as Senator Marco Rubio, all of whom ran against Trump for the nomination, both received $2,700 from the Soros campaign for their bids.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who ran briefly in the 2016 GOP primaries and was an outspoken Trump critic, received $3,500.
Several prominent party establishment figures within the GOP also received donations from the Soros Fund, including John McCain, who was given $2,500, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was given $10,800. By comparison, the fund gave the Clinton campaign $22,400.
Of the 12 Republicans who received money from the Soros Fund in 2016, none endorsed Trump prior to his locking up the nomination, and most declined to express clear endorsements of him even after he became the nominee.