(JTA) — The U.S. government broadcasting agency said it is investigating a segment aired on its Spanish-language network about “multimillionaire Jew” George Soros that also said he was “the architect of the financial collapse of 2008.”
The U.S. Agency for Global Media said Tuesday that it is conducting an internal investigation into the report on Radio Television Marti, which broadcasts news to Cuba to promote American foreign policy interests. The report was aired in May.
The program was presented as part of the TV Marti newscast and introduced by the anchor with the phrase “George Soros, the multimillionaire Jew of Hungarian origin …” It also calls him “a non-believing Jew of flexible morals.” The conservative organization Judicial Watch, an outspoken critic of Soros, was the only source for the 15-minute video segment.
The producers of the report have been put on administrative leave, John Lansing, CEO and director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Radio and Television Martí’s parent office, said in a statement issued Tuesday.
“Those deemed responsible for this production will be immediately placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into their apparent misconduct,” the statement said. “Disciplinary action appropriate under federal law may then be proposed, including the potential removal of those responsible, depending on the outcome of that investigation.”
The report, which was first reported on Friday by the Cuban Triangle blog, followed by Mother Jones, was taken down, but archived copies of a shorter two-part version can be found on YouTube.
The report also says that Soros uses his business profits “to finance anti-system [political] groups that fill his pockets.” It calls his Open Society Foundation, which supports civil society groups around the world, with a stated aim of advancing justice, education, public health and independent media, “a facade for investing and looting countries.”
Soros, a Holocaust survivor and philanthropist who funds liberal and pro-democracy causes, has been a frequent target of the far right in the United States and abroad, who often invoke anti-Semitic tropes to exaggerate his influence in politics and economic affairs.
