Judicial Watch announced this week that it is suing the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to find out why nearly $5 million in American taxpayer money went to the Macedonian branch of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
Via Fox News:
The conservative watchdog group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department and USAID after both failed to respond to a Feb. 16 FOIA request seeking records related to grants or payment authorizations, records of communication between State Dept. or USAID officials and the Open Society Foundations.
Judicial Watch also asked for responsive records of communication sent from Jess L. Baily, an Obama-appointee and the current U.S. ambassador to Macedonia (who is allegedly “cozy” with the Soros people), and similar records of the political activities of the Open Society Foundation-Macedonia.
The USAID website reported that between Feb. 27, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2016, USAID gave $4.8 million in taxpayer money to Soros’ organization. The USAID’s website links to one of the Open Society Foundation websites, which says the project trained hundreds of young Macedonians “on topics such as freedom of association, youth policies, citizen initiatives, persuasive argumentation, and use of new media.”
“His allied group is allegedly pushing to overthrow the conservative government there through typical community organizing,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton explained.
The conservative government was rocked by scandal a year ago when President Gjorge Ivanov granted pardons to 56 officials implicated in a wire-tapping scandal. The president rescinded 34 of the pardons in June, agreeing to demands from the opposition, the European Union, and the United States. Ivanov’s decision to pardon the officials in April of 2016 drew nationwide protests that led to the cancellation of the election in June. According to reports in the Macedonian press, Soros was behind many of the protests, some of which devolved into riots.
On Fox Business Friday, Judicial Watch Director of Investigations Chris Farrell claimed that the Open Society Foundation went so far as to interpret Saul Alinsky’s socialist bible, “Rules for Radicals,” into Macedonian “so that these youth groups can attack and destabilize the democratically elected government there.”
Farrell added that he couldn’t understand why the United States would give “three cents” to the Soros operation in Macedonia.
“The Obama administration seemed to bust taxpayer budgets in an effort to fund the Soros operation,” said Fitton. “The Trump State Department and USAID should get their act together and disclose the details of the Obama-Soros spigot.”
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News that “the Department does not comment on matters under litigation.”
But an Open Society Foundations spokesperson told Fox News in a statement that: “The Open Society Foundations spends nearly a billion dollars of its own money a year promoting democracy, human rights and good governance around the world. Our local foundations administer a miniscule amount of US aid. When USAID chooses an Open Society national foundation to administer USAID funds — which go on to NGOs in the field — it is because we have a reputation for transparency, efficiency and professionalism. The work the Macedonia foundation supports has helped the Macedonian people by strengthening healthcare, education, community activism and journalism in the country — often in partnership with the European Union, the United States and the Macedonian government.”
Last month a group of Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asking him to launch a full-scale investigation into the Obama administration’s efforts to meddle in elections around the globe, including Macedonia.
Baily and the Soros group also came under congressional scrutiny in January:
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., led a group of House lawmakers in writing to Baily demanding answers about whether U.S. tax dollars were being used to fund Soros projects in the small, conservative-led Balkan country of Macedonia. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also expressed concerns about USAID money going to Soros’ Open Society Foundations as part of a broader concern that the U.S. embassy had been taking sides in party politics.
“I have received credible reports that, over the past few years, the U.S. mission to Macedonia has actively intervened in the party politics of Macedonia, as well as the shaping of its media environment and civil society, often favoring groups of one political persuasion over another,” Lee said in his January letter.
In February, Louie Gohmert, R-Tex., Smith and others called on the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation and audit of the State Department and USAID’s activities in Macedonia, including funding of Open Society Foundations entities.
In partnership with USAID, Macedonia’s Open Society Foundation is currently recruiting candidates for “Youth Engagement Support (YES) grants,” the American Spectator reported.
It’s some part of a $9.5 million, five-year “civic engagement” boondoggle kicked off last year, which surely would be squelched if the Tillerson State Department were running on all cylinders.
Collusion between the Hungarian-American billionaire and the U.S. against Macedonia’s national interest is outlined on the website, StopSoros.mk, launched in late January by journalists in Skopje, the capital city and, incidentally, birthplace of Mother Teresa.
Over the last three weeks, inspired by the Trump Revolution, tens of thousands of Macedonians have held peaceful rallies for national unity, an end to chaos-creating Soros/USAID largess, and the removal of the U.S. Ambassador. One of the most common posters is a black and white, “No Soros Government.”
Here’s a protest right after the inauguration of President Trump.
Macedonians carried posters of Soros and banners reading “No for Soros Government” as they marched through a street in Skopje, Macedonia, on March 20, 2017.
Macedonians rally to support Trump and defeat Soros and his Open Society wh has almost bankrupted Macedonia. pic.twitter.com/D9Hk5YoJAE
— 🌹Mary Mauldin TEXT TRUMP TO 88022 (@marymauldin) January 30, 2017
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