Hyping Bragg's Tenuous Link To Soros, Fox Ignored Trump's Violent Threats

• Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy called Bragg a “George Soros-funded DA” who “has to pay his master back.”
• Fox host Mark Levin called Bragg a “radical left-wing legal bomb thrower who’s inserted into this position by George Soros.”
• Former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller called the probe evidence that “we are living in a post-Constitution, post-truth era where progressive, Soros-backed prosecutors will decide for themselves who is free and who is not.”
• Fox host Greg Gutfeld claimed Alvin Bragg “has more blood on his hands than the Wuhan market” and warned that “no one is safe if he can do this.”

In reality, both Trump and Fox have greatly exaggerated the supposed connection between Soros and Bragg, who was one beneficiary among several campaigns supported by the Color of Change PAC, which also endorsed him. Soros had donated to Color of Change since before Bragg’s candidacy, and a spokesperson for Soros said the two men have never communicated. A Color of Change spokesperson clarified that the endorsement process is “independent of funders.” Soros has made no direct contributions to Bragg, though his wife and son donated a combined $20,000 to his 2021 campaign.This isn’t the first time that Fox has ignored or downplayed damaging statements and actions by Trump, and it comes as the network is seemingly lifting its “soft ban” on the 2024 GOP front-runner.

Methodology

• Media Matters searched transcripts in the Snapstream video databases for all original programming on Fox News Channel for the term “Trump” within close proximity to any of the terms “Soros,” “Bragg,” “Daniels,” “truth,” “social,” or “post,” or the terms “death” and “destruction” within two words of one another or the term “Manhattan” within five words of either of the terms “district attorney” or “DA” from March 23, 2023, when Trump published his Truth Social post labeling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a “Soros backed animal,” through 3 P.M. ET March 24, 2023.
• We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Trump’s Truth Social posts were the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the posts. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the posts with one another.
• We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentions the posts without another speaker engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promotes a segment about the posts scheduled to air later in the broadcast.