Soros touts far-left district attorneys despite crime surge
Imelda Hernandez, whose son was murdered in LA County, responds to George Soros.
An official with Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office got into a Twitter tussle with Fairfax County’s liberal commonwealth attorney over the state’s record-setting murder rates.
"Violent Crime will continue to rise as long as we have #Sorosfunded prosecutors who refuse to do their jobs," Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the Youngkin administration, Maggie Cleary, tweeted Monday.
Cleary’s comment came in response to a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis that found murders and non-negligent manslaughter killings in Virginia skyrocketed in 2020 to levels not seen since 1994. The violent crimes continued in the state the following year, according to the report, but at a slower rate.
Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano responded to Cleary later Monday, by arguing he is not a "Soros-funded prosecutor" and the murder rate in his county was "75% lower than the entire Commonwealth's."
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WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 17: Steve Descano , Commonwealths Attorney-elect, Fairfax County, Virginia speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginias Newly Elected Progressive Prosecutors on Tuesday, December 17, 2019. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images) (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
"Maybe @MaggieClearyVA should look at the numbers (especially since she works in public safety) before making such a ridiculous claim," Descano tweeted.
Cleary hit back at Descano arguing he’s not a Soros-funded prosecutor with a screenshot from the Virginia Public Access Project showing $601,369 in donations to Descano’s campaign from a George Soros-funded political action committee called the Justice and Public Safety PAC.
When approached for comment, Youngkin’s office directed Fox News Digital to a recent opinion piece from Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares decrying liberal prosecutors in the state.
Glenn Youngkin, governor of Virginia, speaks to members of the media following a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at the Virginia Executive Mansion, in Richmond, Virginia, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022. Youngkin, former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group Inc., is the first Republican elected to the office since 2009. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Miyares singled out Descano in the piece, saying the Fairfax commonwealth attorney has "stopped prosecuting more than 20 different types of crimes and has instructed his prosecutors to avoid mandatory minimums and drop felonies to misdemeanors whenever possible."
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The Virginia AG also pointed to how the murder rate doubled in Fairfax County between the time Descano was elected in 2020 and April of this year, when the opinion piece was published. In one case, Miyares said Descano dropped felony charges against a suspected serial killer who had 88 prior charges and was on probation when he was arrested in Fairfax County for abduction, breaking and entering, and possession of ammunition charges.
SUFFOLK, VIRGINIA - OCTOBER 25: Virginia Republican Attorney General candidate Jason Miyares speaks during a campaign rally for Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin at the Nansemond Brewing Station on October 25, 2021 in Suffolk, Virginia. Youngkin is contesting Democratic candidate and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in the state election that is over a week away on November 2. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"Liberal prosecutors such as Descano have created a revolving door that puts criminals back on the streets as quickly as they were picked up and leaves law enforcement overwhelmed. Liberal prosecutors are indeed contributing to a "catch-and-release" program that is putting violent criminals back on our streets, which puts more innocent people at risk," Miyares wrote.
Descano addressed the Twitter back-and-forth following his exchanges with Cleary, and argued in comment to 7News that her bringing up George Soros while discussing crime is "a tried and true anti-Semitic troupe that has been used in this country decade over decade over decade," according to 7News.
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"When we're trying to talk about crime and one part of that conversation immediately goes to the conspiracy about a shadowy cabal of foreigners who are pulling strings to destroy American culture. That is not a good faith argument, it’s anti-Semitic," he told 7News.
He also said that he has never personally met Soros and said the contribution from the Soros-funded PAC was likely made due to him previously writing "a 22-page campaign document that had about 100 footnotes in it --- completely out of my own brain" concerning his "vision for criminal justice reform."
"As a matter of fact, not only have I never met him, I don't think I've ever even talked to anybody who has ever met him. The fact of the matter is, I got help from an organization because they believed in the message that I was putting out. And I think it's, quite frankly, really disingenuous to focus on this one funder," he told the outlet.
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Descano's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for additional comment on the matter.
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