“Soros supports candidates through occasional direct contributions, but mainly through his Democracy PAC or to groups that support candidates with what are known as independent expenditures, according to Soros spokesman Michael Vachon. Independent expenditures are not coordinated with a campaign but work in support of one, such as through sending mailers or operating phone banks,” reads Kessler’s fact check. “Soros has a particular interest in funding efforts to overhaul the U.S. criminal justice system, such as treating drug addiction as a disease, not a crime, ending money bail, and reducing racial inequities in prison sentences.”

The Washington Post fact checker conceded the New York district attorney was the type of prosecutor favored by Soros, but said the billionaire “never made a contribution to Bragg.”

“Republicans are being slippery here. Claiming Soros ‘funded’ Bragg is simply false, but many rely on the more ambiguous phrase of ‘backed,’ which is technically correct by several degrees of separation. But it’s still misleading and worthy of Three Pinocchios,” Kessler wrote. “The incendiary focus on Soros raises more difficult questions. Given the tenuous connection between Soros and Bragg, it’s a dangerous game that plays into stereotypes of rich Jewish financiers secretly controlling events.”