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Did Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush Take Money From George Soros? No. That’s Fake News.

   DailyWire.com

On Monday, The Drudge Report linked a story at Breitbart attacking Republicans who had opposed Donald Trump during the GOP primary, tweeting, “Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush Took Campaign Cash from Soros.”

Soros, of course, is arch-leftist billionaire George Soros. The Drudge Report tweet linked to a Breitbart article titled, “Records: Soros Fund Execs Funded Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John McCain, John Kasich, Lindsey Graham in 2016.”

In reality, the article written by Matthew Boyle stated, “Employees of a hedge fund founded by the king of the Institutional Left, billionaire and Democratic Party mega-donor George Soros, donated tens of thousands of dollars to top Republicans who fought against President Donald Trump in 2016, donation records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show.”

Get it? Employees at Soros’ firm. Not Soros. Not his firm. Employees, who it turns out may actually disagree with Soros on politics.

This is the definition of fake news.

Boyle attempted to vilify the group of recalcitrant Trump supporters by insinuating that employees who donated to the various Republicans were essentially the same as those employed by the firm who donated millions of dollars to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He limned his report with this sinister kind of rhetoric:

But more importantly, perhaps, than the unsurprising giant lump sums of cash funneled into Democratic Party and Clinton coffers is the revelation thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics that employees of the Soros firm—now run by his son Robert Soros—pumped tens of thousands of dollars into the campaigns of top anti-Trump Republicans over the course of 2016.

Boyle admitted that the paltry $36,800 given by employees to the members of the GOP was a pittance compared to what was given to Hillary, but still colored the donations as a nefarious attempt to gain control of the GOP: “While these numbers for Republicans pale in comparison to the millions upon millions poured into Democratic groups, causes, and candidates, it is significant that Soros executives are making a play inside the GOP. Perhaps even more significant is the type of Republican they aim to prop up: pro-amnesty, pro-open borders on trade, and generally speaking anti-Trump.”

Of course, it was the anti-Trump part of the rhetoric that was Boyle’s central thesis, as became clearer and clearer: “The biggest recipient of Soros-connected cash in the GOP was none other than House Speaker Paul Ryan, who repeatedly attempted to undermine Trump over the course of the election.” In case the reader did not understand how much in bed Ryan was with Soros, Boyle added, “But Ryan’s support for open borders when it comes to immigration and trade, and his backing of so-called “criminal justice reform” legislation, is in line with Soros’ worldview—and he regularly bashed Trump over the course of the 2016 election.”

Continuing: “But he was hardly the only anti-Trump Republican who received cash from Soros Fund Management employees over the course of 2016. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a failed presidential candidate, received $3,500 from the firm’s employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics data.”

No doubt that munificent sum was enough to turn Graham into a Soros acolyte.

Still, Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop found it necessary to defend his boss from Boyle’s insinuations, saying, “George Soros has never given a penny to Lindsey Graham. George Soros Fund Management has never given a penny to Lindsey Graham. These are donations from individuals who are employed by Soros Fund Management.”

Boyle continued conspiratorially, “Bishop does not deny that Graham did take a donation from Soros Fund Management employees.”

Boyle noted that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also received $2,700 apiece from employees of the Soros firm.

And how much money did Rubio receive from a Soros employee? $2,700. Boyle admitted that the donor had given funds primarily to GOP candidates, including “Ryan, Rubio, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), and 2012 GOP Ohio Senate nominee Josh Mandel, among others.” But he had to bolster his premise by adding, “But Donfeld . . . has donated to Democrats like Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), and a failed Democratic congressional candidate in Arizona’s 9th congressional district in 2012, Andrei Cherny.”

Moving on: “Anti-Trump Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a failed one-time GOP presidential nominee from 2008, got $2,500 from an executive at the Soros firm, while Boehner—who resigned amid a coup from conservatives—raked in $2,600 from an executive at the Soros firm.”

Boyle even targeted former Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV), the defeated 2016 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Nevada, gleefully noting, “who lost his election after he withdrew his endorsement of Trump in the general election.”

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