Q: Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tied to George Soros?
A: Not directly. Her campaign gained momentum from an interview she gave on an internet show that is supported, in part, by a nonprofit that received a grant from an organization that received funding from a Soros foundation.
FULL ANSWER
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has gotten a lot of attention since she upset the Democratic Party’s primary in New York’s 14th congressional district in June.
Several websites have recently been circulating stories with headlines that claim: “Details of Democrat Communist Antisemite Ocasio-Cortez’s Ties To George SOROS Revealed” and “Details Of Communist Ocasio-Cortez’s Ties To George Soros Revealed.”
But there’s less here than meets the eye.
The stories point to Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance on The Young Turks, a liberal internet show, as evidence that she is tied to the liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
Ocasio-Cortez did appear on The Young Turks, which is supported in part by a nonprofit that has received a grant from a group that gets some of its funding from a Soros foundation. In fact, she credited the online show with giving her campaign exposure. But her campaign has not received any funding from Soros.
The Young Turks is supported by The Media Consortium, which describes itself as a “network of independent and community media outlets dedicated to values-driven journalism.” In 2017, the most recent year for which information is available, The Media Consortium got funding from the Chicago Community Trust, the Park Foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, and the Media Democracy Fund. The Media Democracy Fund lists 12 funding partners and one of them is Soros’ the Open Society Foundations.
But, the stories call The Media Consortium “a Soros media empire” and cite an organization called the Media Research Center as the authority for that claim. But, just as The Young Turks and The Media Consortium described themselves as progressive, the Media Research Center identifies as conservative. It says its mission is “to expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media” and touts its efforts to spread “conservative content.”
So, it’s hardly a neutral evaluator.
Also, Ocasio-Cortez isn’t a communist, she’s a Democratic Socialist who will appear on the Democratic Party’s line in the November election.
Updated, Sept. 4: We removed a reference to the origin of the show’s name, The Young Turks.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk false stories shared on the social media network.
Sources
Wang, Vivian. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A 28-Year-Old Democratic Giant Slayer.” The New York Times. 27 Jun 2018.
Geller, Pamela. “Details of Democrat Communist Antisemite Ocasio-Cortez’s Ties To George SOROS Revealed.” Gellerreport.com. 20 Aug 2018.
The Young Turks. “Meet Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Fighting For NY-14.” YouTube.com. 4 Nov 2017.
Federal Election Commission. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 2018, Receipts.” Accessed, 24 Aug 2018.
Federal Election Commission. “Individual contributions, 2017-18, George Soros.” Accessed, 24 Aug 2018.
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