FACT CHECK: Does This Photo Show Alexander Soros And Kamala Harris After ‘Their Final Interview In Biden’s VP Vetting Process’?
An image shared on Facebook over 300 times purportedly shows Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris with Alexander Soros, the son of billionaire George Soros, after “their final interview in Biden’s VP vetting process.”
Verdict: False
Media reports do not mention Soros as being involved in the vetting process for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick. The image was taken and posted in March 2019, roughly a month before Biden even announced his campaign.
Fact Check:
The screen grab of another Facebook post shows the younger Soros shaking hands with Harris while posing for a photo. The user in the screen grabbed post suggests in the caption that Soros and his father played a significant role in causing Biden to choose Harris as his running mate by claiming the photo shows Soros and Harris after “their final interview in Biden’s VP vetting process.”
“This was the moment,” Soros allegedly said, “when I decided she would be the pick. I told my dad and he agreed. The rest was just a formality.” (RELATED: Viral Image Attempts To Spread False Claims About George Soros)
Check Your Fact did not find any credible media outlets attributing the quote to Soros. News outlets that covered the vetting process for Biden’s running mate like USA Today and The Associated Press did not mention either member of the Soros family.
The claim appears to stem from Soros sharing the image on Twitter with the caption “History in the making” on Aug. 11, after Biden announced Harris as his running mate. However, Soros had previously posted the photo on Facebook in March 2019, roughly a month before Biden announced his presidential campaign.
“The photo in question was taken (and posted) on March 8th, 2019, at the conclusion of a meeting between Mr. Soros and Ms. Harris in Washington DC,” said Zack Graham, a spokesperson for Open Society Foundations, where Soros serves as a global board member, in an email to Check Your Fact. “Ms. Harris was exploring a presidential bid, and the two discussed a wide range of topics.”
A search of an unverified Twitter account with the same name revealed that the user has posted the quote and image multiple times since August. The posts were shared as comments in response to tweets from President Donald Trump’s campaign and conservative commentators like Dinesh D’Souza and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.
Soros serves as a global board member for Open Society Foundations, an organization founded and chaired by his father. The Soros family has been the subject of multiple baseless conspiracy theories, according to BBC News.