President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if George Soros is funding the caravan of Central American migrants heading toward the U.S., amplifying a baseless conspiracy theory about the prominent Democratic donor days after an attempted attack on him.
Trump made the comments while speaking to reporters outside the White House.
“Do you think somebody is funding the caravan? Do you think somebody is paying for the caravan?” a reporter asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. I wouldn’t be surprised,” Trump said.
“George Soros? Who’s paying for it?” a reporter interjected.
“I don’t know who. But I wouldn’t be surprised,” Trump replied. “A lot of people say yes.”
The conspiracy theory that Soros was funding the migrants spread across pro-Trump Facebook groups in recent days as people like Ann Coulter, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., parroted it.
Trump’s comments come a week after Soros, CNN and several of Trump’s prominent Democratic critics were the intended targets of mail bombs allegedly sent by a Trump supporter.
Trump sent mixed messages after the mail bomb suspect’s arrest, urging “harmony” but also chuckling at someone’s suggestion that Soros should be locked up.
Trump’s latest remark about Soros, who is Jewish, also follows the massacre of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.