Republican Jewish group rushes to Trump's defense after historic conviction

Former US president points fresh blame at Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros for hush money verdict, drawing accusation of fanning antisemitic violence

JTA — The Republican Jewish Coalition leaped to the defense of former United States president Donald Trump after he was found guilty on 34 charges related to falsifying records to conceal that he paid an adult film star to cover up a sexual liaison just before the 2016 election.

The verdict makes Trump, who is seeking to return to office this fall, the only US president ever to have been convicted of a felony.

“Without question, this is a political prosecution of a political opponent,” Matt Brooks, the group’s CEO, said after jurors in Manhattan delivered the historic verdict following a day and a half of deliberation on Thursday.

“It’s a weaponization of the legal system,” said Brooks. “The case is deeply flawed and will likely be overturned on appeal. The Democrats think this will hurt Trump, the reality is that it will likely propel Trump to victory in November.”

Speaking outside the Manhattan courthouse where his trial unfolded over several weeks, Trump blamed Jewish billionaire George Soros, invoking a trope that Jewish organizations have denounced as leading to antisemitic violence.

Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, said the real verdict would come on November 5, Election Day.

Voters “know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here,” said Trump, who is the presumptive Republican candidate for president. “You have a Soros-backed D.A. and the whole thing, I didn’t do anything wrong, I am a very innocent man.”

Former US president Donald Trump walks to make comments to members of the media after a jury convicted him of felony crimes for falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election, at Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

The connection between Soros, a liberal megadonor, and Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor, is tenuous. Soros, long an advocate for criminal justice reform to reduce incarceration rates, has donated money to Color of Change, which helps campaign for liberal prosecutors. He gave to the organization years before it backed Bragg when he ran for office in 2021.

Trump invoked Soros when he was indicted in March 2023, and has repeatedly done so in fundraising appeals since launching his bid to wrest back the presidency from US President Joe Biden.

Jewish organizations have said that making Soros, a Holocaust survivor, the mastermind of trends conservatives regard as sinister is dangerous. Baseless conspiracies tied to Soros helped inspire the deadly 2018 attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue and attempted pipe bomb attacks on Jewish figures, including Soros, during Trump’s presidential term.

Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros answers questions after delivering a speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 24, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

Calls for violence by Trump supporters proliferated on social media following the verdict, Reuters reported.

“It’s wholly unsurprising that Trump is already invoking antisemitic, racist and bigoted tropes to further sow distrust in our justice system and our democratic institutions, like he’s done all along,” said Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, in a text message. “We should understand this as intended to undercut our democracy and fuel political violence, as we’ve seen over and over again.”

Sentencing is set for July 11. Trump has said he will appeal.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.