WASHINGTON — Bolstering her opponents’ claims that presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is beholden to Wall Street and the wealthy elite, newly released donation records show that her biggest donor is controversial billionaire investor and liberal “kingmaker” George Soros.
A report filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission by Priorities USA Action, a Clinton campaign super PAC, showed that Soros donated $6 million to the group in December, making him, by far, the biggest investor in the group. Haim Saban, the Zionist Hollywood billionaire, and his wife Cheryl donated a combined $3 million that same month. Other powerful donors from the finance industry, Donald Sussman and Herb Sandler, gave $1.5 million each.
Not only do these represent Clinton’s overall top donors, but they’ve all given generously more than once. Soros previously donated $1 million to Priorities Action PAC, bringing his total support for that particular super PAC to a massive $7 million in 2015. In all, he donated more than $8 million to pro-Clinton groups last year. However, Soros’ influence extends beyond monetary figures, as Politico explained on Jan. 31:
“Soros is seen as a bellwether among rich Democrats. He is one of the few liberals who has shown a willingness to drop eight-figures in an election cycle, having donated more than $20 million in 2004 to groups that tried to oust then-President George W. Bush. After the failure of that effort, Soros dialed back his big-money political spending.”
Soros supported Obama during his 2008 election and 2012 re-election campaigns, but a Dec. 31 Politico analysis of emails released from Clinton’s private server shows how Soros changed his tune:
“In an email to Clinton, Neera Tanden, head of the Center for American Progress, recounted a conversation she had while seated next to Soros at a dinner sponsored by the liberal major donor club called Democracy Alliance.
After Tanden informed Soros that she had worked for Clinton during her bitter 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination against Obama, Tanden wrote that Soros ‘said he’s been impressed that he can always call/meet with you on an issue of policy and said he hasn’t met with the President ever (though I thought he had). He then said he regretted his decision in the primary – he likes to admit mistakes when he makes them and that was one of them. He then extolled his work with you from your time as First Lady on.’”
Indeed, Soros’ neoliberal investments often closely aligned with Clinton’s foreign policy as secretary of state. For example, leaked documents link Soros to U.S.-backed upheaval in Ukraine, while Clinton publicly backed military support for the EuroMaidan rebellion, despite its links to neo-Nazi groups.
According to the Associated Press’ analysis of FEC filings also published on Sunday, Clinton’s super PAC brought in $37 million dollars at the end of the year, edging out her closest competitor, Bernie Sanders, who raised $33 million.
Clinton’s super PAC “showed 29 donors have given $20 million — or almost 80 percent of its receipts in the last six months of 2015,” but, as the AP noted, “Sanders continued his dominance with contributors giving $200 or less; those donations made up some 70 percent of his haul.”