Campbell Soup is rejecting claims made by one of its company’s lobbyists that George Soros is helping to fund a caravan of migrants that is marching through Mexico toward the U.S. border.
In a Twitter post this week, Kelly Johnston, Campbell’s vice president of government affairs, wrote that the Open Society Foundations — founded by billionaire Soros, who is also a major Democratic donor — has arranged for “troop carriers” and “rail cars” to help the caravan.
He later deleted the tweet but New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel posted a screen grab of it.
Campbell Soup disavowed the claims.
“The opinions Mr. Johnston expresses on Twitter are his individual views and do not represent the position of Campbell Soup Company,” a company spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
Soros’ group also denied the allegation.
“Neither Mr. Soros nor Open Society is funding this effort,” Open Society tweeted on Tuesday. “We are surprised to see a Campbell Soup executive spreading false stories.”
“We do support the historic U.S. commitment to welcoming people fleeing oppression and violence in their homelands,” Open Society added.
The migrant caravan marching through Mexico to the U.S. border has grown to more than 14,000, one Mexican news outlet reports, and President Trump is readying a federal response if needed.
Although the group of migrants that set off from Honduras two weeks ago numbered about 2,000, the number has been growing in the last weeks, topping 14,000 now, El Universal reported. The news outlet said that the new estimate of marchers comes from “municipal authorities,” the Catholic Diocese in the Mexican city of Tapachula, and the Mexican National Migration Institute.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) posted a video to Twitter that shows migrants in the caravan receiving cash from unknown people. “BREAKING: Footage in Honduras giving cash 2 women & children 2 join the caravan & storm the US border @ election time,” he wrote. “Soros? US-backed NGOs? Time to investigate the source!”